When I Come Around
by ashl3yj0nas43v3r
Summary: George will save them even if he must let go. Fred imagines himself Prince Charming, but will never reach her tower. Lee was never in the right time and place to do the right thing. Oliver could hold up the sky if he didn't want to. Katie lives in moments and looks for eternity. Angelina is too weak to not be strong. Alicia thinks too much to ever find answers. The end starts here.
1. Dancing

_**I hope you guys enjoy this! I've been trying really hard to write a good story about this group. They're so much fun to write about and there is so much drama to be had :) If you don't like the pairings that are going on right now, relax. There will be much breaking up and getting together and at some point you will see a pairing you like ;) So in the meantime, read, review, and hopefully enjoy!**_

* * *

Fred looked over at the letter in George's hand. "Detention with Filch at seven."

"As per tradition?" Katie asked, sitting down across from the boys. Every year, without fail, the boys got in trouble on the first day and had detention on the second. And on the first year, they had gotten the girls in trouble too. It was how they met, in fact. Except that now teachers knew better than to have the six of them together for detention and made quite a task of splitting them up into separate corners of campus.

"Yep." George nodded. "Mrs. Norris ate a Ton-Tongued Toffee."

Katie laughed. "Oh, what I would have given to see that. So then Fred, who are you having detention with?"

"Snape." Fred said. "He is, of course, overjoyed to have me skinning salamanders until midnight. And I, of course, will be overjoyed to steal something valuable and dangerous from his personal desk." He grinned.

"Oh that sounds great." Angelina said sarcastically, appearing at the table and sitting next to Katie. "What about you?" She asked Lee.

"McGonagall." Lee answered. "Can't be that bad. You?"

Angelina made a face. "Well for 'sassing her during class' Trelawney wants me to polish all her crystal balls tonight. All the while she'll remind me I'm destined to die a lonely, ugly old woman with sixteen cats and no friends." She rolled her eyes. "Looks like _someone's _insecure about her fate." She smiled coldly at the thought and turned to Katie. "What about you?"

"Hagrid." Katie smiled. "I'm walking Fang."

"That's not fair!" Fred said.

"Life's not fair!" Katie said in a singsong voice, fairly happy for someone who had detention on the second day of school. "Hi Oliver!" She said brightly as their Quidditch captain stopped in front of their table.

As usual, Oliver omitted greetings, and handed them their practice schedules. "Where's Spinnet?" He asked.

"You mean Alicia?" Katie had been trying to make Oliver address them by first name since she joined the team.

"The Chaser." Oliver folded his muscular arms. "Where is she?"

"The library," Fred said, at the same time Angelina said, "The common room," and Lee said, "Avoiding Fred," their responses too garbled to make any sense.

Oliver raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Okay. Give this to her, will you? And make sure she's on time. We have double practice today. We need to make sure–"

"–that we win–" Fred said, bored.

"–because this is our year–" George continued.

"–and we have the best team–" Katie droned on.

"–and if Slytherin wins again, et cetera… we know." Angelina finished. "Hold on." She said suddenly. "_Double _practice on the second day back?"

"Don't be late!" Oliver disappeared in the crowd entering the Great Hall.

Angelina scoffed. "I'm not going to an eight hour practice on the second night back from summer." She rolled her eyes at his obvious incompetence at being captain and forked her salad.

"What if he just kicks you off the team?" Lee asked.

Angelina laughed. "He can't replace me."

"He can't replace any of us." Fred said. "I'm not going either."

"I love rebelling." George said with a grin.

"He was just trying to be a good captain and make sure that we do well." Katie said.

"Oh Katie," Fred gave her a knowing look. "We all know he's incapable of reasonable thinking. There is no need to defend him." He winked at her, "Although we understand why you feel the need to rush to his defense."

"What is that supposed to mean? I am perfectly capable of making an objective comment!" Katie stuck her tongue out at him. "And objectively speaking, he is quite good looking." She added with a self-satisfied smile.

"Okay, let's not get into that." Lee said, cutting her off. Katie rolled her eyes at him.

Angelina critically scrutinized Fred. "So where's Alicia?" She said casually to the group when he didn't notice.

Lee looked in alarm in Fred's direction and said softly, "Ange—"

"Just an innocent question." She said with a cold smile in Fred's direction. "Right?"

He grinned at her, unfazed by her obvious jab at him. "Right."

There was no need to say why it wasn't an innocent question when they all knew anyways.

* * *

"I hate my life." Alicia said, taking her seat in Charms next to Angelina. They were all sitting in the back corner; Angelina and Alicia in the front, with Lee and the twins in the back. She folded her arms and leaned back in her seat, giving anyone who dared to look over at her a death glare. "Snape gave me detention for 'walking loudly in the hallways.' What the hell is his problem? I never get detention!" She generally sweet-talked her way out of sticky situations. "Now I get to spend the evening polishing telescopes for Professor Sinistra."

"Our tradition lives." George grinned at her. "You never get detention _except_for the second day of school. Every year. And it's always Snape who gets you."

"You know we should thank him for being the only person to resist your charm." Fred said. "Without him this wonderful tradition would never have been created."

"It's a stupid tradition." Alicia muttered, as Professor Flitwick began to talk.

Fred leaned forward and murmured, "You met me."

Alicia turned around in her seat to look face Fred, looking right into his eyes. His chin was resting on her chair. He had one eyebrow raised and his _well what are you going to say_ expression. Alicia wanted desperately to say something—something right for once— but the words didn't come. She looked down at her fingers, gripping the edge of her chair, and back at him. Fred reached out to touch her shoulder and smiled, his eyes twinkling the way they always did, before leaning back, and for the first time, giving his attention to the lesson.

* * *

Lee sat on the couch in the common room next to Angelina, who was laying across the couch with her legs stretched out on his lap. She was tossing grapes into his mouth and talking about her summer. She talked animatedly, as if vividly recalling her summer, but it was really just an excuse for her to be here—to enjoy the intimacy of this moment. The more she talked the more she wanted to stop, but she kept going—Angelina was never one to be at a loss for words. Beside her, Lee was busy catching the grapes with his mouth and interrupting her with smart comments that made both of them laugh and chat about random, off topic subjects. Somehow, he watched her without really listening, but caught every word she said.

"Go out with me to Hogsmeade this weekend." Lee said suddenly, interrupting her.

Angelina propped up her head on her hand, her glossy black hair falling behind her and smiled–not in a coy or flirty way as she did towards other boys, not teasing or condescending as she usually did towards Lee and the twins– just smiled, like she enjoyed his company. Because she did. So much.

"I can't." She was still smiling.

Lee put his hand on her leg and traced circles with his thumb. "Saturday date?"

Angelina always had a date on Saturday, and every guy wanted to be the one she went out with this week.

"Neiman Willis."

"Sixth year. Ravenclaw." Lee nodded. "Nice guy."

"Not if he's going out with me." Angelina said, with a small smile.

"Don't say that." Lee murmured. He thought everyone was nice, because you couldn't be mean to Lee.

Except for Angelina. She put her hand on his and traced circles on his palm. "He's buying me the whole fall catalogue at _Forever Charmed_and then taking me to his favorite club, and then we're... well you know." She trailed off.

"I know." He said.

She was going to make out with him by the fountain in front of the school, and they would look like they were a couple really, truly in love and on fire. They would wait until after hours, and then sneak back into the common room. Then, after all the tapestries were bored of the show, they would sneak back into his dorm, careful not to wake anyone up, and draw the hangings closed. They would kiss each other again. She'd wear a lacy red bra. And the next morning she would be gone before he woke up.

"Only one date with him?" Lee asked, with a wry smile.

Angelina smiled back, as if they had an inside joke. "He knows what's coming." Angelina leaned her head on Lee's shoulder. "But that's Saturday. How about on Sunday all of us go out and we can ditch the others?"

Lee trailed his fingers down her spine. She smiled with pleasure at the way her body responded— chills ran through her body followed by heat (the kind of heat she felt when she blushed, which wasn't often) and her brain turned to jelly. She closed her eyes. He said, "Maybe."

"Mmmm." Angelina smiled up at him and played with the hem of his shirt. "Sunday date?"

Lee always had a Sunday date, whether it was with a girlfriend or a new date. He could never stay with his girlfriends long—it just never worked out that way. Relationships lasted weeks or months and then just faded on their own. He always felt dreadful about it; his apologies were genuine and the pink roses he gave were sweet, but he really ought to know better by now.

"Elaina Mackey."

"Seventh year. Gryffindor. Sweet girl." She smiled condescendingly as she said, "Pretty too," which meant nothing next to her jaw-dropping perfection.

"Mmmm." Lee closed his eyes as Angelina reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, along his jaw line, and down his chest. "Maybe next weekend."

Except he already knew he would have another Sunday date with Elaina.

"For sure." Angelina said, with a smile.

Except she already knew she would have a Saturday date with Bryce Carter.

* * *

Oliver stood in the middle of the Quidditch pitch alone with his playbook and quill. He placed the players on his team on the field, imagining them in various formations. He scribbled out diagram after diagram. There were moving arrows and figures on each page with detailed descriptions and labeled players. The brand new playbook was already half filled with his new ideas.

"Hey." Katie came up to him and stood by him.

"Practice is cancelled." Oliver muttered, scribbling names onto each figure of his new diagram. "No one showed up except Potter."

"I know." She said in a sort of amused way, which irritated him.

"Anyways, you're late, Bell." He turned around and squinted at the hoops in the distance.

"Katie. My name is Katie." She turned and stood in front of him, not that it did any good. She was a lot shorter than him.

Without looking at her he said, "If you want to be technical like that, your name is Katherine. Or would you like me to call you Katherine Elyse?"

"No. Just Katie." She said lightly.

Oliver sighed and put down his playbook. He looked right into her eyes. "Look, practice is cancelled. Now go finish your homework and get a good night's sleep. I want you ready for practice tomorrow. And be on time."

Katie looked right back at him and smiled knowingly. "I didn't come here for Quidditch practice. I came here because I've been watching you pace the Quidditch pitch for the last fifteen minutes and it's pathetic. Oliver, there's a life outside of Quidditch, and it's beautiful, it's exciting, it's amazing, and you're missing out on it. When was the last time you kissed a girl? Talked to someone for ten minutes about something that wasn't Quidditch? Walked out in the rain just because you felt like it? Oliver—"

Oliver opened up his playbook again and turned around. "Listen, Bell—"

"Katie."

"—I'm just doing my job as captain. Quidditch _is _my life. And yes, it's beautiful, it's exciting, it's amazing, and I don't want to miss out on it."

Katie stepped in front of him again. "Oliver, you are a great captain—the best. And no one will argue that you're the most dedicated player that ever graced the Hogwarts house teams. But a captain—a team—is only as good as their weakest player. So if the rest of us aren't good enough for you then maybe you should try to build us up instead of wearing us down."

"I know how to run my team."

"Look at this field Oliver, we are not a team."

Oliver looked down at her and knew she wasn't going to leave. "What do you want from me?"

"Take the day off." Katie said. "Have dinner with your friends, don't take out your playbook, and don't talk about Quidditch at all. The first pretty girl that walks past you, grab her hand, kiss her passionately, and make out with her by the fire in the common room. Set off Filibusters in Snape's classroom and talk back to him during detention. When it rains tonight, take a walk outside and look at the stars."

Oliver looked at her with an expression of amusement and surprise. He closed his playbook. "Alright. No promises though." He tossed her the playbook.

Katie smiled—the kind of smile that was radiant and made him feel like he would do anything just to make her smile like that again. "It's a start." She looked at him for one last moment, and then turned to leave.

"Wait." Oliver grabbed her hand.

"Yeah?" Katie turned around.

He kissed her cheek. "You said to kiss the first pretty girl that walked past me."

* * *

"Can you remind me again why you're hiding in_ the library_, of all places?" George said loudly, clearly annoyed to be there.

"Because it's the last place Fred is coming to." Alicia placed stacks of books around them.

"I don't think I've ever been in here." George said, looking around. "And I don't think I'm ever coming back." He watched as she took out ink, her quill, and a piece of parchment. "Are you doing homework?" He said incredulously.

"Yes! This O.W.L. level work is crazy. Aren't _you _going to work?" Both Angelina and Alicia were determined not to do well in their classes, although they were both very easily swayed to participate in the boys' pranks and games instead. Unfortunately, teachers had stricter homework policies for O.W.L. students.

"Nope." George folded a piece of parchment into a paper airplane and threw it across the room. It landed in front of a pretty blond girl who looked up at him. He grinned at her and she smiled back before opening it up. After reading it she looked up at him and scribbled something on the parchment, refolded it, and sent it flying back. George caught it in midair and unfolded it. "Fantastic."

"Going out on Saturday?" Alicia said sarcastically. George never went through with date plans. He flat out wasn't interested in relationships. Why? That was hard to figure out with someone like George who could smile and joke at his own funeral.

"Yep. Maybe you should get a date too."

"I don't want a date."

"Okay. What do you want?" George said impatiently. The library was such an unpleasant place and he wished he hadn't agreed to come keep Alicia company. Behind the shelves, creepy nerds who kept peering at them from between books.

"I want…" Her voice trailed off. She wasn't quite sure what she wanted exactly. "I don't know what I want."

"How ironic." George said sarcastically. Being in the library was deeply depressing, and he was annoyed with the overall air of forced silence. "I know what I want." He snapped his fingers. "Chocolate cake." He got up to leave. "Figure out what you want."

"A strawberry tart." Alicia said to him as he left.

He didn't laugh.

She stared at the paper in front of her—an essay about identifying poisons—and wished she knew what to do. All she knew was that she didn't like the library any more than George did, and it was time to act like Alicia Spinnet again—and Alicia Spinnet does not hide in the library to avoid her problems. Alicia shoved her ink, quill, and parchment back into her bag and made her way to the common room. Fred was sitting with George and Lee, and they were playing Exploding Snap with Angelina and Katie. Alicia dropped her stuff on the floor next to Katie and grabbed Fred's arm.

"We need to talk."

She dragged him off the chair and stepped out of the portrait.

* * *

Angelina glared at George.

They had bolted out of the common room and into one of the secret passages and followed the sound of Fred and Alicia's footsteps. Now they were now crammed in a very small tunnel, bodies pressed together and ears pressed against the walls as they tried to listen in on the conversation.

It was not exactly an ideal situation, given that there was so little space she could barely breathe without getting her ribs crushed against his chest.

"This better be good." Angelina pressed her ear against the wall and jammed her elbow into his side, trying to shimmy into a more comfortable position.

"Mmm. I thought you'd enjoy being in the dark in the close proximity of a male body." George drawled sarcastically.

Angelina wished there was enough space for her to slap him. "Attractive male." She corrected caustically.

"I felt that was obvious." George said airily. Angelina started to snap back when he cut her off, "Do you _want_ to hear them."

"Fine."

They were both silent after that.

* * *

Katie was sitting on the magnificent fountain in front of the school when it started raining that night. She smiled when she felt the cool raindrops fall on her bare shoulders. She probably should be inside, but she wasn't cold. It had been a warm September night and the rain was refreshing. Katie was always carefree. She never worried too much about the future the way Alicia and Angelina did—no, she was one to enjoy the moment. Right now she loved the feeling of the rain on her skin, as if it could wash everything away. She threw her head back and closed her eyes, feeling the raindrops on her face. Her bronze hair cascaded down, soaking up the raindrops as they fell faster.

Katie opened her eyes and looked up at the top of the fountain where there were dancing arcs of water. She stood up from her spot on the second tier of the fountain and stepped up. Her clothes clung to her body and slipped down her skin, weighed down by the rain. By now she soaked, by both the intensifying rain and the fountain as she climbed up. She stepped onto the highest tier of the fountain—the very top—and smiled. Droplets of water from the dancing arcs of water fell on her bare skin and she felt the streams of water as she stepped out to interrupt their path.

She spread her arms out, threw her head back, and began to dance. Twirling around with the dancing arcs of water. The rain continued to fall and she began to laugh.

"What are you doing?"

"Dancing on the fountain." She didn't stop. Her laughter rang out.

Oliver stood in front of the fountain, his hands in the pocket of his jeans. His shirt was soaked through and his hair was messed up. He watched his chaser dance on the top of the fountain, seemingly in harmony to the dancing streams of water. His first thought was that she had to be freezing, as was he. His second thought was that she looked beautiful. And she looked happy. There was something radiant about her as she laughed and danced in the rain on the top of a fountain most people just walked by and never looked at twice. She was graceful and she was free.

Then, as quickly as the rain started, it began to slow down. As the last droplets of rain cast ripples into the water in the still moving fountain, Katie stopped dancing. Oliver couldn't stop looking at her as she stood there, water dripping from her hair and clinging to her eyelashes, her clothes soaked through and seemingly weighing down her small body.

"Did you enjoy the rain?" She asked, looking down at him.

"What?" For a moment the only thing on his mind was the image of her standing on top of that fountain.

"You actually walked out in the rain." She smiled at him and began to climb down the fountain.

Oliver reached up to help her down. He put his arm around her waist, lifted her, and then set her down with ease. His other hand held hers for just a moment. Her heart raced, and in that moment so did his. Something about her was so mesmerizing. She was so innocent and genuine. Every emotion on her face was real and nothing was hidden. Not a moment passed her by unnoticed.

"Yeah. I walked in the rain." He said. "And I didn't talk about Quidditch at dinner, I set off a dung bomb in Snape's office and laughed when he tried to curse me, I finally learned the names of the guys in my dorm."

It had been a great day. He couldn't remember ever feeling so full of life and energy. Just thinking about it all gave him a rush of happiness.

Katie laughed. "How was it?"

"Well, awkward. I mean I should know their names by now—"

"Not that. I mean how did it feel to live and breathe something other than Quidditch?"

He grinned. "Great!" He was almost surprised by his own response. "Thanks Katie."

She smiled at him with that beautiful smile that had earlier captivated him.

He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so happy. He looked at her earnest blue eyes, so full of hope. Hope for him, for herself, and just for life, for all there was to live for. It was the hope that was now coursing through his veins, from being with her, watching her, thinking about her. He had thought about her several times throughout the day, wondering what it was that made him do this. Because really, he shouldn't. As beautiful and wonderful as today had been, it was a day in the life of someone else. Her life. His own life was completely different, and he didn't dare bring her into a day of his life. No. He couldn't. As much as he had enjoyed his time, it was time for him to return to his own life.

It's better to cut your losses early.

Or in this case, hers.

* * *

_**So I hope you enjoyed that! And that you'll feel like reviewing whether you did or didn't :)**_


	2. Drowning

_**So I'm honestly not sure if I'm going to continue this story, because I'm getting like zero feedback. So should I keep it? Try something else? Stop entirely? Tell me!**_

* * *

Fred allowed Alicia to drag him out of the common room, and out into an abandoned corridor.

"I need to talk to you." Alicia stopped at one of the empty walls.

He couldn't help but think that the corridor was really not the best place to talk about something important, but he decided against sharing this thought to Alicia. She had that hard and purposeful look in her eyes that told him she was not letting him out of her sight before she said what needed to be said. Fred was not one to just go along with other's plans, but it was only in few and dire situations that he had seen this fierce look in Alicia's eyes. And sometimes, it was okay to give into others.

So he said simply, "Okay."

Alicia was facing the wall opposite him. He could see her shoulders rising and falling as she breathed slowly and heavily. Her blond hair cascaded down her shoulders in golden layers.

"I just—Well we… um…" For the first time in her life, Alicia stammered. She was the girl who always knew what to say, who could always sweet talk her way in and out of things. The rights words had always just rolled off her silver tongue, until now.

Fred reached out to touch her shoulder and turned her to face him. "Just talk to me."

Alicia took a deep breath and looked up at him with her beautiful green eyes. "This summer. In that tree house in your backyard where we used to play. We, um, well, we need to talk about it."

His whole body tensed. He hadn't forgotten, exactly. He had just sort of pushed it into the back of his mind and chose not to revisit it because, well, it wasn't going to happen again. "Yeah. I remember." He murmured.

For a moment they were both quiet.

"Surely nothing can be scandalous to _you_." The sounds were muffled, but distinctly a voice.

"Not that you'd ever know seeing as no one would ever get scandalous with _you_." This time it was definitely Angelina's voice.

Fred and Alicia looked at each other warily. It was no surprise that George and Angelina would eavesdrop. Fred raised his eyebrows at Alicia, as if to say _well, we have company. _Alicia glared at the wall in front of them where the voices came from. Fred grabbed her arm and put a finger to his lips. He had that mischievous twinkle in his eyes. _Just play along_.

"You didn't tell anyone what _really_ happened did you?" Fred said, with a nervous emphasis.

Alicia smiled at him and then said anxiously, "You mean that we—"

"Sh! Don't say it!" Fred whispered urgently.

"Okay! It's just that… well… I can't really say this without _saying it_, um…" Alicia paused dramatically and the two of them could hear the whispering behind the walls.

"I just don't want word getting around that we…" Fred started to say.

"…that we had sex and that I'm pregnant." Alicia finished.

At this, Fred and Alicia almost laughed out loud. Fred was doubled over, with silent laughter, and he felt like his rib cage would explode from not laughing out loud. Alicia was leaning against the wall, also doubled over from trying so hard not to laugh. It took them several minutes to finally calm down. They sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, grinning at each other and breathing heavily.

"That was brilliant." Fred whispered in Alicia's ear (in an actually _quiet _whisper, not an Angelina whisper).

Alicia leaned her head against the wall and looked up at him. She merely smiled.

"I know you wanted to talk, but this isn't the place. Meet me at midnight in the common room and we'll go somewhere safe." He said in a low whisper.

She nodded, and then he left. He just left.

Alicia stayed in the corridor, her head leaning against the wall, wishing she knew what to say to him. Her mind flashed back to that day last summer that was inevitably going to change her relationship with Fred forever.

* * *

_They were standing in the old tree house in his backyard where they used to play. It was the first time they had been together alone that summer. With all the Weasleys, Lee, Hermione, and Harry all at the Burrow, it had been difficult to have even breathing space, let alone time like this. It was about three in the morning, and they were watching the stars fade one by one. The evening had been spent playing Quidditch together, mercilessly teasing Percy the new Head Boy, and playing a steamy game of Truth or Dare in which Alicia shamefully picked Truth every time._

_Sometime after everyone had gone to sleep, Alicia walked out onto the balcony of Ginny's room, where she had been staying, and stared at a vague spot in the distance. She hadn't been able to sleep. It would be a week before she began her fifth year, and she was scared out of her mind. Her birthday had been a few days ago, and something about fifteen had felt, sort of like a coming of age moment. Maybe it was because it was the first time in their Truth or Dare game that there had been dares to kiss and she watched open-mouthed as Angelina kissed Lee for a full on minute and then sat down as if it were nothing. Maybe it was because the thought of O.W.L.s made her head hurt. Or maybe it was because every time she looked at Fred there was an odd flutter in her chest. _

_She didn't even want to get started, thinking about Fred, but lately she couldn't stop. She had no clue when it happened, but she started analyzing everything he did and said to her. Alicia had always been that person who spouted intellectual fluff when she was nervous, and started micro-analyzing situations when they got stressful. So when suddenly she felt dizzy every time he looked at her she told herself it had to be some neurochemical abnormality and filled her head with excuses full of long and complicated words that she didn't quite understand. Random intellectual fluff._

_Where was all this coming from anyways? Life was getting so complicated and she wanted nothing more right now than to laugh at cheesy jokes, chase fireflies, and blow off homework like there was no future to worry about. _

"_What are you thinking?" Fred leaned over the balcony two stories up, where his room was. _

"_Chase fireflies with me." Alicia said, before she could even think about what she was saying. _

_So even though it was past midnight, they grabbed their brooms and they flew up into the air and chased fireflies. They zoomed after the glowing creatures, laughing and making dramatic lunges to grab onto the fireflies. They missed every time, but they weren't really trying to catch the poor insects, who couldn't even fly very fast. It was just fun to fly in a whirl of glowing colors. When they finally decided to stop, Alicia put two fireflies in a jar and asked if Fred wanted to go into the old tree house they used to play in. _

_Alicia was sitting on the window sill, her legs dangling over the edge. The jar of fireflies was next to her, glowing brightly like a candle in the darkness both inside and outside of the small tree house. Fred was casually leaning against the wall. The soft glow of the fireflies lit up his brilliantly red hair, and danced in his gold-flecked eyes, which were looking out the window. Or, at least she thought so, until she looked back and realized that he was actually looking at her. She felt that odd little flutter in her chest, and as she looked back at him—his face glowing in the light of the fireflies they had just spent the better part of two hours catching—she knew. _

_She was in love with Fred Weasley._

_Fred moved slowly towards her and leaned on the window sill, his eyes level with hers. He was looking right into her and she felt like her chest was going to explode because her heart was trying so hard to open up and scream at him that she was in love with him. He leaned even closer and she tilted her head up, following his gaze. His lips were so frustratingly close to touching her when he stopped and whispered, "What are you thinking?"_

"_Kiss me." She said, before she could stop and think about what to say. _

_And just like that she had her first kiss. With one of her best friends._

* * *

There they were.

"Thanks Katie."

Just the two of them, soaking wet, standing by the fountain in front of the school in the starlight. And he had just called her Katie—Katie, not _Bell_ or _you, Chaser_. She smiled at him and for a moment it was all so perfect. He was finally looking at her the way that she had always wanted him to. He had surrendered his playbook to her and given her this ray of hope that maybe, just maybe he could learn to see her as more than a Quidditch player.

There they were.

"No. Thank _you_ Oliver." She smiled at him, the kind of smile that said _you make me happy._

Everything was perfect in that moment.

Then she blinked, and it was as if a sudden shadow settled over them. There was an oddly dark expression in his face, and she shivered suddenly. "We should go back inside." He muttered, shoving his hands into the pockets of his now soaked jeans. "It's cold."

"What?" His quite obvious statement was meant to be an excuse and an explanation, but she must have missed something, because it made no sense to her. He hadn't cared for the cold when he came out to talk a walk and when he smiled and laughed with her. She stood there, as if her feet were frozen to the ground, staring at him. She didn't understand.

The disappointment on her face must have been obvious, because he put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her apologetically. "We shouldn't be out in the cold." It was September. There was no cold. "I'll take you back to the common room."

It was only when they got back to the common room that she realized they both had the same common room, and that his last statement had been meaningless too—which was, given more thought, much like everything he had said to her that day.

* * *

On second thought, it was pretty cold.

Katie took a scalding hot shower and threw on a t-shirt and soccer shorts and went back to her dorm, which was empty. She had three other roommates, but she wasn't close to them. Other than casual conversation in the morning and before bed, and maybe occasionally going out for butterbeer together, she didn't talk to them and they were never really in the dorm anyways.

She threw her stuff haphazardly on top of her trunk (to be dealt with in the morning if she felt like it) and put her hair in a messy bun. Her brain was still swimming in the steam of the blissfully boiling water.

"Alicia and Angelina are convinced you must be upset. Which means you'll come tearing down my dormitory door in the middle of the night sometime this week anyways, I'm just going to ask you right now what happened."

Katie gave a startled squeak and turned around. When she saw that it was just Fred, she seized the nearest object and threw it at him. "You have got to stop doing that!" But she smiled, despite what he said, because he was right. He was her best friend—more than even Alicia and Angelina—and she was glad that he was now sitting on her bed (he quite frequently abused the knowledge of how to trick the stairs), not even needing to ask if she was okay.

The book she threw hit the wall several inches off target. Fred grinned at her. "Bad aim and uncharacteristic inattentiveness—also tell tale signs." He mused.

"I just feel stupid." Katie said.

"You're taking ten classes. Of course you've lost your mind." Fred answered, opening up the composition book she had just chucked at him.

Katie smiled but didn't laugh. When she saw what she had just thrown at him, she tried to pry it out of his hands. Fred easily pulled it out of her reach and examined the open pages upside down. "It's Oliver's playbook! Fantastic. George and I have been trying to steal this from him for years. The man _sleeps_ with it. How did you get it?"

"He gave it to me." Katie was practically crawling on top of him in an attempt to grab it from his hands.

"What?" Fred dropped the book.

"He gave it to me. Not that I care anymore, because everything he does is apparently meaningless." She scowled.

Fred sighed and leaned back. "You know, on second thought, have this conversation with Alicia or Angelina."

It's not that he didn't know anything, or that he didn't care, it was just his way of saying _don't worry, it's not a big deal_ because it if was, he would make her tell him.

Katie smiled and whacked him with her pillow. "You wanted to know what happened."

"But now I know you're fine. So now I don't have to care." Fred grinned at her and smacked her with the other pillow.

"Some best friend." Katie couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm great. Admit it."

"Oh very funny. You _think_ you're great." Katie smirked at him and then grabbed her books. "Prove it." She handed him the books.

"Oh very funny." Fred pushed the books back to her. "I've got nothing to prove."

Katie threw the books at him. "You know I might realize that I'm actually quite upset."

"Oh no." Fred jumped off the bed and pulled her up. "We're not having that." He shoved the books into her arms, put his hands on her shoulders and marched her down to the common room. "You're fine. Trust me."

"I trust you."

The two of them got down to the common room just as George and Angelina entered through the portrait hole, Angelina positively beaming with excitement. Without waiting for either of them to say anything, Angelina grabbed Katie's hand. "Come on, I have to tell you something."

* * *

Oliver half collapsed onto his bed and put his face in his hands. What was he doing? How could he let himself believe for even a second that things were changing for the better?

He rubbed his temples. His head felt like it was splitting open.

_How did it feel like to live and breathe something other than Quidditch?_

If only she knew the truth. She didn't know what she was dealing with—what he was really like underneath the Oliver Wood everyone thought they saw. He was the obsessed captain who was always scheming new ideas. He was the zealous student who never missed an assignment or scored badly on an exam, because he had to earn high marks to stay on the Quidditch team. He was the best listener, because as his friends knew, he pretended to ignore everything people said.

His vision was beginning to tinge with red.

_There's a life outside of Quidditch_, _and it's beautiful, it's exciting, it's amazing, and you're missing out on it._

Funny. That was what everyone said. But no one really seemed to get it. It was what he was good at. It was where there were opportunities for him. It was all he had, really. So he worked hard for it. He did everything he could to make sure that he was on the team as a first year and that there was never a reason for his team to say he didn't play his best. He tried to win as many games as possible. He wanted every achievement and accolade. There was no other path in his life other than what Quidditch had to offer him.

He shivered involuntarily. His whole body felt cold and he felt like ice was freezing under his skin. He peeled off his wet jacket and shirt.

_Did you enjoy the rain?_

He didn't see the point of walking in the rain. What was that supposed to accomplish? Was he supposed to just walk around outside, get soaked by rain, and have some sort of epiphany? That wasn't not exactly how things worked for him. There were no sudden realizations and instant decisions in his life. Somehow he believed that giving himself the time to justify everything would ensure minimal consequences. And of course, that got him into this mess. Because he always justified everything.

He grit his teeth. Every muscle in his body felt like it had been doused in acid. He lay down and tried to sleep it off.

_Take the day off._

Well, it didn't quite happen like that. Once you start, you don't stop. He knew that. He spent days, agonizing about his choice. Should he do it? Of course not. Shouldn't he know better? He did, of course. But it would make him so much better. And after all, Quidditch was all he had. He couldn't give that up, could he? It would only help him. Yes, there were side effects and what not, but all he had to do was keep having more and it would go away. There was really nothing for him to lose. As long as he kept taking it.

* * *

Katie looked at Angelina suspiciously. "You're sure about this?"

Angelina crossed her arms and gave Katie her _it's me, you idiot, of course I'm right _look. "I heard them."

"I don't know. I think she'd tell us." Katie scrutinized the Bertie Bott's beans in her lap. "Are you going to tell her that you know?"

"Of course I am!" Angelina said. "And I'm going to demand and explanation for her not telling us! We are her best friends! You think she'd tell us something like this!"

Katie seemed completely nonplussed. "Huh. So she had sex with Fred, and now she's pregnant. Wow, I hope that was great sex for all it was worth." She said in an almost sarcastic tone, as she still didn't quite believe Angelina.

Alicia entered the dormitory just as Katie finished her sentence. "Oh. Who was it this time Angelina?"

Katie giggled, sensing an oncoming confrontation. "Not Ange."

"_You_. "Angelina said. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Alicia smiled innocently. "Tell you what?"

"Oh nothing," Angelina said with mock sweetness, "except that YOU'RE PREGNANT! AND YOU DIDN'T TELL US!" She yelled. "I can't believe you!"

"Could you be any louder?" Alicia hissed. "The whole common room probably heard you and now they'll think I'm pregnant!"

"_Think_?!" Angelina fumed. "They'll _see _in a few months! I can't believe you didn't tell us that you—"

"Oh for the love of Merlin, be quiet!" Alicia yelled over Angelina. "You seriously need to learn how to talk quietly." She dropped to an angry whisper. "And I am not pregnant! I did not have sex with Fred! I _did _hear you and George eavesdropping on me and Fred in the corridor. Of course, we didn't think you'd be dumb enough to actually buy that story, or scream it to the whole Gryffindor tower! The whole school is going to think I'm pregnant!"

Katie looked over at Angelina, whose mouth was hanging open quite unattractively. "I told you."

Alicia peered out the door nervously. "I hope no one heard that." She stepped out of the dorm and peeked down the stairs at the completely filled common room. She smacked her forehead.

"Good job, Angelina." Katie said sarcastically.

"So." Lee said, emerging behind them from the boys' dorms. "Alicia, is there something you want to tell us?"

Alicia smacked her forehead again. "I'm not pregnant!" She gave Angelina a dirty look and stormed down the stairs.

"Well I wouldn't head down to where all the people were if I was her, but I don't suppose she wants to hear anything from me right now." Angelina said, unfazed.

Lee leaned against the wall and smiled at her. "Go out with me on Saturday. Cancel with Neiman."

Angelina smiled coyly. "I can't. We can go out on Sunday. Cancel with Elaina."

Lee rubbed the back of his neck and gave her a pained look. "I can't."

"Aww." Angelina snaked his arms around his neck and drew herself closer. "Guess we're not going out this week."

"Why don't we just have some fun right now?" Lee grinned playfully at her.

Angelina played with the collar of his shirt. "Now there's a thought."

Katie rolled her eyes and pushed Angelina so that her head collided with Lee's. "Oh oops. Just wanted to remind you: I'm still here!" She grabbed Angelina's wrist and pulled her back into the dorm. "You two are disgusting."

"Just playing around."

"When will you two either go out or start acting normal?"

Angelina scoffed. "_Normal_ no longer describes our relationship."

"Fine. Then let him take you out."

"No, it doesn't really work like that. Don't you get it? We don't _want _to go out. For all I know, I'll go out with Neiman on Saturday and fall in love with him. Or Lee will go out with Elaina on Sunday and realize that she's the one he wants to be with." Angelina shrugged. "What happens will happen. Lee and I just aren't happening."

Katie raised an eyebrow as if to say that she found everything Angelina was saying to be untrue. "That's because you say so."

Angelina gave Katie a piercing stare. "Exactly."

* * *

At midnight Alicia left her dorm, careful not to wake up any of the other girls, and crept down the stairs into the common room. She stood by the window, looking out at the night sky, as she waited for Fred. A minute later Fred came down the stairs. Without speaking, he climbed onto the window sill, and jumped out the window. Alicia gasped and looked out the window. His body was falling towards the ground—falling faster and faster. Just before he hit the ground he muttered, "_Liberum Cadens,_" and drifted slowly to the ground, as if his body had suddenly turned into a feather. Alicia shakily climbed onto the window sill and jumped out. Fred repeated the spell just before she hit the ground. Suddenly, her body felt weightless and she was fluttering through the air. She gently landed on the ground seconds later.

Fred began to walk towards the Forbidden Forest, Alicia by his side. There was a tense silence that pretended to be companionable. When they finally reached the forest, they stopped and turned to face each other. It was an unspoken communication.

Alicia should have been shivering in the night air, but she didn't feel it at all, as she began to speak.

"What are we?" She asked him.

Fred looked at her with his beautiful gold-flecked hazel eyes. She knew from the look in his eyes that she didn't have to explain her question. "I don't know." He said truthfully. "But I'm not worried."

She stared up at him. "Why?"

He took one step towards her and leaned forward. She could make out the gold flecks in his eyes. "Because we're going to find out right now." He whispered.

Then he leaned forward and he kissed her. And suddenly, they were back in that tree house this summer and even though the stars were fading and the fireflies were dying, she felt this brightness inside of her that was growing and growing. Her head was spinning and fireworks were going off in her mind, and her heart was hammering in her chest, which felt like it could explode, and yet somehow she held onto him and she knew that no matter what, as long as he was there she was going to be okay.

_Now I know._

* * *

It had been fifteen hours. He had only been fighting for three hours. And already, it was too much. His head was splitting open and all these thoughts of fighting were only cracking him open. His eyes were rolling into the back of his head, and all he could see was red—red like blood; he could taste his own blood. His body was cold, there was ice growing underneath his skin. His every muscle was burning, screaming, not even fighting anymore, just burning. He was covered in cold sweat.

_It's a start._

Yeah, there was a start. And then it kept going. He just continued because as long as he kept taking it he was okay. The start? Well, which one?

_Life's not fair._

And didn't he know it. Oh well, let him fight that another day. Time to surrender.

He dragged himself out of bed. His bones were disintegrating and his muscles were dissolved. He made his way across the room. It was taking so much precious strength not to cry out. He wouldn't want to wake up his roommates. Not now. He shoved the dresser away from the wall. Somehow this pain was empowering him. He was losing his balance and he was feeling feverish. And yet he was cold. So cold. He put one hand on the wall and the other on the dresser, trying to stay standing. "_Revelaris_." He mumbled, barely able to spare that breath. It hurt to breathe. Every particle in his body was screaming.

The wall opened up a small space filled with small vials. He grabbed a handful and then stumbled back to his bed. The vials glittered in the moonlight that streamed from his window. The light was killing him. He felt like his head would explode. He wrenched the curtains closed. The black liquid in the vials still sparkled in the absence of light. He barely had the strength to keep his head up, but somehow pulling off the stoppers was no problem. No problem at all.

He tilted his head back and drowned himself.

* * *

_**Like it? Don't like it? I don't care, just review, tell me SOMETHING. Please. :)**_


	3. Running

_**So I'm posting this chapter not because I was inspired by reviews (ha, because there were like none... -.-) but because I don't know what to write for Between the Lines. Nontheless, I think it's one of the better chapters, so give it a chance (and review, if you do xD).**_

* * *

George leaned against the doorway of Angelina's dorm. She was sprawled across the bed, sleeping heavily. He wrenched open the hangings around her bed and threw open the curtains. "Rise and shine Princess." George leaned on the wooden post at the head of her bed.

Angelina moaned and pulled the pillow over her head. "What do you want?"

It was too early for her to be around George. Talking to him—if you could even call it _talking_—was exhausting. Everything he said to her had double meanings and her mind always worked at top speed to keep up with the implications of what he was saying. If she had been any less manipulative and crafty she would have been completely lost. She probably wouldn't have that problem in the first place either, but it was too late for that.

"Rough night?" George mused. "You look better than the last girl who slept with Neiman Willis, if that makes you feel any better. Although I wonder how he's doing, considering he slept with _you_. Did he pass out like the others?" He said in an annoyingly light and bright tone.

Angelina wanted nothing more than to ignore him and burrow under her warm blanket, but that wasn't how it worked with George. "Unlike you, he was hot. Now go away." She kicked him, or at least in the direction of his voice.

He caught her foot and started to drag her across the bed. "Oh but I'm enjoying this. Aren't you used to guys enjoying your company?" He smirked.

Angelina kicked him again and pulled the covers over her head. "I will hurt you if you don't leave me alone to sleep."

"As far as I know you're never alone when you sleep." Angelina sat up and sighed exasperatedly. "That's common knowledge though." George grinned

Angelina stood up and looked at him critically for a moment, then drove her elbow into his rib cage and shoved his chest, pinning him down onto the dresser. "Doesn't make you that sharp then does it?" She shoved him harder, driving his back into the sharp corner of the dresser.

George smirked. "Nice try Princess, I don't hurt," He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away with such force that she hit the wooden post at the foot of her bed. "Alright there, Princess?"

Angelina huffed angrily and walked across the room to her wardrobe and yanked the door open. "Why are you here?"

George opened her dresser drawers randomly. "Lee's out with Elaina, Fred and Alicia are passed out in the common room, and Katie's out with Wood." He closed one of the drawers too hard and a piece of the wood on the side of the dresser popped out. "Guess I'm bored."

"Go find a hot girl and make out with her." Angelina dumped an armful of clothes on the bed. "In all your nonexistent charm it shouldn't be a problem."

He laughed. "Do you even know what time it is?" George peered at the side of the dresser. There was a shallow hollow space with a red leather book crammed inside.

Angelina disappeared behind the hangings of her bed and changed out of her pajamas. "You've been assailing me since I woke up. So no."

"It's two in the afternoon. I've already flirted with Brenna Waters and decided doing nothing was a better use of my time, looked at and decided not to complete our potions homework, and pondered my existential role in this universe." George said satirically. He pulled out the book and flipped it open. The pages were blank.

"Really?" Angelina said dubiously. George was quite frankly the opposite of her. While she couldn't stay away from the opposite sex, he couldn't care less. He flirted, but only if he was bored and never because he cared. In living memory, he hadn't even cared enough to go on any of the dates he scored.

"Of course not. Don't you know me at all, Princess?" George shoved the red book back into the side of the dresser and wordlessly cast a fixing charm. The wood piece fit back into the dresser with a light _pop_. "I never ponder."

"What are you doing?" Angelina crossed over to the dresser.

"Wondering who your next victim is, seeing as you're getting dolled up." He nodded at her tight black leather mini and ruffled lavender blouse. She rolled her eyes and turned around so that he could button the back of her blouse.

"Well I'm certainly not wasting my time by spending it with you." Angelina grabbed her necklace from the dresser. She always took it off when she was with her guys. She held it up for George to clasp for her. "This too."

George dangled it from his fingers, the gold pendant sparkling. "Today's Sunday, isn't it?" Angelina turned around and pulled her hair up. George chuckled. "You won't be needing this." He tossed it in the air and caught it in his hand.

Angelina rolled her eyes. "You think you've got me all figured out?" She meant to turn the conversation in a different direction but George knew better.

"You found out about Elaina, didn't you? About time."

"Yeah, he said he was buying her flowers." She grabbed the necklace from his hand. "I guess its curtains for Elaina." Angelina grabbed her bag and left the room. God, it was exhausting to be with George. His never ending mind tricks forced her to play him in turn. It wasn't very fun when she always had to be on her guard. Her head was spinning as she calculated his possible hidden meanings.

He scoffed. "I know when you're lying, Princess."

"No you don't." Angelina breezed down the stairs, her stilettos making that clicking sound upon contact with the wood floor that she liked. "You, like every guy, think you know me, but you don't."

George grabbed her arm, spun her around, and pinned her to the corridor wall. He stared fiercely into her eyes. "Don't confuse me with every other asshole you're sleeping with." His voice was no longer cool and teasing. It was rough and raw. "I know you. You think you're fooling the world by walking around the school like you're some tough bitch and slinking around at night with all the upperclassmen, but I know you and I know why you're doing this."

Angelina jammed her elbow into his ribs. "Think what you want, but you don't know me." She pushed him away and started back down the corridor.

_Not anymore, you don't._

* * *

"What are you doing?" Alicia craned her neck to look over at Katie.

Katie was throwing things onto the table as she shuffled through her bag. "I just remembered…" She mumbled vaguely. "Here it is." Katie grabbed an ordinary looking composition book from her bag and then got up from the table.

"Where are you going?" Fred asked.

"Be right back." Katie walked over to the end of the table.

Fred shrugged and returned to his conversation with George and Lee. Alicia and Angelina leaned over to watch as Katie walked up beside Oliver. He looked up at her as she walked to her and smiled broadly at her. "Hey Katie."

"Hey." Katie arched her eyebrows in surprise. After his odd behavior last time they talked she was surprised by his casual greeting. It was like he forgot what happened. In fact, he seemed like another person altogether. He was smiling, for one—as if he had just been laughing or was actually glad to see her. _Right. _She dismissed that thought. Still, there was something about him that was very different today. Maybe it was his hair? Or his shirt? It was just a plain white button-up, with the top and bottom buttons undone. Well, whatever it was, it was a nice change. "I just wanted to give this back to you." Katie set his playbook on the table next to him.

"Oh, thanks." Oliver smiled at her again.

Katie couldn't help but smile back. She felt a pleasant warmth in her body, like she was swimming in sunshine. "I hope you enjoyed that day off." She said, swaying on the spot, not quite wanting to leave.

Oliver was still looking at her. As she swayed slightly, the sunlight streaming from the windows seemed to shimmer behind her. Such small things made extraordinary. "I did." He said, not really hearing what he was saying.

Katie looked up and saw Alicia and Angelina mouthing words of advice at her. The guys were making kissy faces at her and laughing. She stifled a giggle. "I better go." She said, looking back at him. "I hope you have some fun today at Hogsmeade."

"Yeah. Sure." Oliver said absently. She turned to leave—the sunshine swirling around her—and he watched her walk away. "Wait." He stood up suddenly.

"Yeah?" Katie turned, rays of sunshine following her like arcs of electricity to a magnet.

"Do you want to maybe grab a drink together?" He said it casually enough, but she smiled all the same without realizing it.

"Yeah. Sure." She said it casually enough, but he smiled all the same without realizing it.

Katie walked back to her seat, made a crazy face at the boys, and sat down. She began to put all her things back into her bag while Alicia and Angelina looked at her expectedly. She smiled to herself, but didn't say anything. Fred and George made gagging sounds and Angelina was tapping her foot impatiently. "Well?" She demanded.

"Well I guess I can't go to Hogsmeade with you guys, because I'm going with Oliver." Katie said, grabbing a tube of lip gloss from beside her plate and putting it in her bag.

"Don't get your hopes up." Angelina said. "He's either on drugs or dying."

"Gee, thanks. I didn't know going out with me was that bad." Katie said sarcastically.

Angelina stared at Katie as if her brain was oozing out of her head at this very minute. "Did you not notice?"

"Notice what? Pink lemonade." Katie said to her goblet, feeling up for something brighter than tea.

"Well, for one, he called you _Katie_." Alicia said.

Katie shrugged. "It's not the first time." It wasn't.

Angelina sighed, as if she were explaining something painfully simple to a stupid child. "His shirt. He never wears shirts without Quidditch teams on them."

"He smiled." Alicia added. "He's usually brooding over his playbook."

"He's on drugs." Lee said in a mock serious tone.

"No, I'm sure he's dying." George said in the same way.

"If he's on drugs then he's definitely dying." Fred compromised.

"Especially if he's hooked on love." Lee laughed.

Katie sighed. _Bad puns to start off the day. Typical._

* * *

Angelina scrutinized her reflection. She was wearing black jeans and a red trench coat."_Curto._" She pointed her wand at her coat and watched the end of her coat shorten slowly until it was a good six inches above her knee. _Much better._ She tied her hair into a high ponytail and then left the dorm.

"Darling, don't you look beautiful." Lee had just emerged from his dorm and they were now standing in the circular space around the dorms. Angelina gave him a close-lipped smile. Lee stepped closer until she could feel his breath on her neck. He gently touched her cheek and ran his thumb across her lips, smearing her perfectly applied red lip-stick. "There we go." He whispered. "Don't look too perfect or he'll think you actually tried."

Angelina raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. She raked her eyes over him, up and down from his curly hair to his black shoes. "And where are you going?" He was dressed to leave, albeit casually in faded jeans and a black coat. He had a plaid scarf in his hand. Angelina smiled, as if amused by his outfit, and grabbed his scarf.

"Going to Zonko's with Fred and George, then hitting Honeydukes." Lee said. Angelina wrapped the scarf around his neck and tucked in the ends, her fingers brushing his neck. The tendons in his neck tensed. "I should get some flowers too."

"Breaking up so soon?" Angelina examined his scarf. She'd never seen it before. She lived with her friends for pretty much the last five years of her life—had known Alicia and the Weasleys since she was born—and knew everything about them down to their closet.

"Not the pink roses. Sugar lilies." Lee ran his finger along the thin gold chain of her necklace, his finger trailing from the back of her neck to her chest, stopping at the point where her sternum ended. He could feel her heart beat. Fast.

Angelina made a face. "Gross. For Elaina?"

"Yeah."

Angelina turned over the scarf in her hand. "This is new."

"Elaina gave it to me."

"Oh?" Angelina said, almost condescendingly. "You just met her."

"I met her this summer." He loosely wrapped the scarf round his neck. "Its from some big muggle brand."

"Burberry." Angelina recognized the signature pattern. "You never mentioned her."

Lee shrugged. "You never asked." It was an unspoken rule that they tell without having to ask.

"You like her." Angelina said. It was not a question. She could see it.

Lee shrugged again and looked down. "I don't know. We haven't been going out very long."

Angelina studied him. "Four weeks."

"Five." Lee murmured.

"Mmm." It was the first week of the school year, which meant they had been dating for a month during the summer. She kept her expression flirty, but she kept thinking about how five weeks was quite long considering he hadn't talked about Elaina, or been seen together. It could only mean one thing. Rather than think about that Angelina snapped out of her momentary surprise. "I should go. Neiman's waiting for me."

* * *

So maybe he had a little too much last night. Way too much. Oliver knew he shouldn't have had six vials last night, but his body had been screaming with pain and desire. So he indulged. And it felt great. He woke up feeling so alive. He could have taken the whole Slytherin team with one arm behind his back. The sun was brighter, the air was cooler, the girls were prettier. The girls. Oh yes, he was finally looking up from his Quidditch posters and noticing the people around him. Maybe it was because he felt so confident with all those compounds running in his blood stream. He already knew that they were going to win that first Quidditch match in three weeks—and the others—and for once in his life he was looking around.

And that Katie Bell was _beautiful._

She was also on the team, so he was technically just trying to reinforce their inter-teammate relationship because the more they knew each other the better they would communicate on the field and be able to react to each other's movements and decisions.

There he was again, justifying things, trying to make his choices seem reasonable. He pretended to have rational judgment. Of course, he knew that there were consequences. He couldn't fight the need for it without feeling pain. He didn't remember things that happened at night, or sometimes even in the morning. He was impulsive and unaware of his own strength.

But there was a price for greatness, and he would pay it.

* * *

Alicia dropped her armful of bags on the floor of her dorm and smiled in a self-satisfactory way.

"What's all that?" Katie gestured to the pile of shopping bags spilling over onto the floor.

"There was a sale." Alicia said simply. "It's summer stuff out, fall stuff in. I dragged Fred shopping."

Katie laughed. "Fred Weasley allowed himself to be dragged out for shopping? He must really love you."

Alicia smiled contentedly. "He does." Katie smiled. It was nice to see Alicia this way, with her dreamy smiles and confidence. Whenever she spent time with Fred alone she always seemed to emerge glowing and floating on sunshine.

Katie grabbed Alicia's hand. "I need to ask you something."

Alicia snapped out of her reverie and looked at was smiling her radiant Katie smile that always made you feel like you were worth all the stars in the sky, but from the minute she came back from Hogsmeade something about her behavior was off. "I'm listening." She turned to face Katie completely.

"Okay." Katie took a deep breath. "How did you know? That you love Fred. And that he loves you."

Alicia smiled_._ "I don't know how to explain it. You just _know. _You'll just be thinking about him and one moment all those weird things that happen, that you feel, just fall into place and you'll know. I mean I was sitting on the window sill of that old tree house we used to play in and I looked at him—and I mean I've known Fred forever—and it was like this epiphany."

Katie looked away and picked up a dress that had fallen out of the bag. "We were walking back from Hogsmeade and the sun had just set and we didn't see anyone on the path and I was wondering why. And then he looked at his watch and said that the gate was closing in fifteen minutes and that he hopes it rains tonight. And I looked at him and we were just walking and he was looking up at the sky and he didn't care that the gate was closing and I just kept thinking that I love the rain and how he actually walked out in the rain that day and how he caught me dancing on that fountain, looking stupid, and that I wanted it to rain too."

Alicia stared at Katie who was playing with the ribbon on the dress. What she wanted to say was, _sweetie, Oliver's bad news. You're not really in love with him—don't fall for it. _But she couldn't. Because Katie was always the _live in the moment_ person and except for her friends she didn't care for things enough to dwell on them for "longer than necessary". Because the one thing that could last for Katie was love, and she thought she'd found it. Because Katie deserved love.

And because before she could say it, there was Fred, standing in the doorway with his trademark grin. "So our Katie's caught the love bug, huh? Who knew?"

Katie threw a pillow at him. "You really can't just pop into the girls' dorms."

Fred caught the pillow and threw it back at her. "I thought we agreed Oliver was dying. It might be contagious." He grinned and sprawled across Angelina's bed. He playfully kicked Katie's leg and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"More importantly we agreed—though some of us didn't take it seriously—" Alicia jabbed Fred's chest with a clothes hanger. "—that something's going on with Oliver."

Fred held up his arms in mock surrender. "I seriously think he's on drugs. We should put him on Veritaserum and interrogate him." He grinned. "And then steal his drugs and sell them to the Slytherin stoners."

Alicia rolled her eyes. "You are not funny." She smacked him again with the hanger.

"Hey, that hurts." Fred grinned. "Kiss me and make it better." Alicia shoved his shoulder, but smiled all the same. He snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. Alicia giggled and kissed him.

Katie groaned. "First it was Angelina and Lee, now it's you two. I'm out of here." She grabbed her bag and left the room.

"Finally." Alicia smiled. "Let's go out."

Fred grinned. "Jump out the window and make a run for the Forbidden Forest?"

"Window's already open." Alicia got up from the bed and climbed onto the window sill. She spread her arms wide and jumped off. The rush of air was so refreshing. She watched the windows on the building as they flashed before her. "_Liberum Cadens_." She drifted slowly to the ground.

He grabbed her hand and they ran into the Forbidden Forest, laughing, even though they knew they would be in trouble if any of the professors happened to see him. He didn't let go of her hand when they reached the forest, and instead, kept running. Alicia stayed beside him, her hair flying behind her and her legs moving one in front of the other of their own accord. It felt great to run free, to smell the pine trees in the air, to see the individual rays of sunlight filtered through the canopy of leaves, to feel her heart hammering against her chest and embrace it all. His hand was still in hers and she could feel his pulse.

They kept running through the forest. There was no path, she couldn't remember all the turns, and she was pretty sure that all sorts of dangerous monsters were sharing the forest with them, but it didn't matter. Everything was a blur as they ran—faster than she ever thought she could run—they brushed past leaves in a swirl of green, past exotic flowers in a kaleidoscope of color, past beautiful creatures she didn't get to see twice, because she didn't want to stop running.

It was like they were running away together. Away from Hogwarts, away from life, away from everyone else to be together. She even laughed once or twice, her laughter ringing throughout the forest like bells. It was exhilarating. It felt like they were flying, except it was better because she had no idea where she was. It had been a long time since she'd been on an adventure—a real adventure, not just a silly prank. She just wanted to run away, away from everything. Not to worry about anyone else, or think about anything else but each other.

Fred suddenly stopped and threw his arm out to stop her from falling off the edge of the cliff. "We're here," He said breathlessly.

"We're here," Alicia repeated, her chest heaving.

It was truly magical. She didn't remember any change in elevation, but suddenly they were standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. Except it couldn't be the ocean, because they were in the middle of—well actually, she didn't care why or how they had gotten to where they were. Because it was beautiful. There, a few hundred feet below them waves crashed against the cliff. On either side and behind them the forest seemed to continue—a green horizon expanding forever. It was as if they were standing on the edge of the world. The ocean was blue right before them, and turning silver as it continued towards eternity. The silver waters shimmered as the sun began to set. The entire sky was gold and pink and it seemed to surround them completely and bring them into a new world.

"Fred," Alicia started to speak, but she realized that their breathing had fallen into the same pattern and stopped. They were still breathing hard and heavy, but it felt necessary. The only sounds were the wind rustling the leaves of the trees behind them and the water cresting into waves and hitting the cliffs, sending fine sea mist into the air. She almost turned to face him, but she didn't. She just kept staring ahead at the beauty before them. And she kept breathing. And he kept breathing. They didn't speak. They didn't move. They didn't have to.

But they did keep holding hands.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the right way back?" Alicia cautiously pushed back a thorny plant.

"Absolutely certain." Fred turned around and faced her, his eyes twinkling mischievously as they always did.

Alicia arched her eyebrows dubiously at him. "You're not just getting us lost so that you can spend more time with me?" She stepped over a thorn-ridden bush. "I don't remember these at all." She screamed as the bush spontaneously shot off thorns.

"I might have taken a wrong turn somewhere." Fred said airily.

"You might have _what?!_" Alicia tripped over a smaller thorn bush.

Fred grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the way as the bush shot off thorns at the spot she had just been. "Okay, fine, I think we're lost."

Alicia exhaled slowly and angrily. "You're ruining what was the most beautiful moment of my life."

Fred grinned. "I know. I can't stand that mushy love stuff. It's too much for me." He had his arm around her waist. "So just lighten up a bit. We're taking a walk through the forest at daybreak."

Alicia took out her wand. "_Point me._" Her wand spun in her hand and pointed to the right. "Okay, the entrance to the Forbidden Forest faces south so we should—"

Fred squeezed her arm and gently shook her. "The point of being lost is that we get to spend time together."

"I knew you got us lost on purpose!" Alicia put her wand back in her pocket.

Fred shrugged. "It's nice out."

"Oh I know, but I can't stand that mushy love stuff. It's too much for me." Alicia teased. "Why would I want to wander around the forest at dawn with you? It's so grossly romantic."

Fred laughed and pulled her close. "I love you Alicia."

"I'll say I love you when you get us out of here." Alicia said.

"Fine. Let's go." Fred grabbed her hand and steered her left. "Why are you so anxious to leave?"

"Because we're going off course in the Forbidden Forest. It's not like we just stepped off the path of a hiking trail. Something's going to eat us for breakfast if we don't get out." Alicia ducked under a tree branch.

Fred scoffed. "Nothing's going to eat us."

Alicia rolled her eyes at his cockiness, but followed him all the same. Maybe he was right, maybe the Forbidden Forest was a misnomer and people only died at the claws of terrible creatures in rumors. "What's that?" She said suddenly.

"What's what?" Fred brushed an orange feather from his hair.

Alicia swallowed with difficulty as she looked up into the canopy of trees and saw a large creature that looked like an enormous orange dodo bird with a serpent tail and lion claws that were scratching its wings and showering the forest floor with orange feathers. "That." She said weakly, digging her fingernails into his palm.

Fred looked up as the creature leapt down from the tree. "Run." He tugged on her arm as they tore through the forest, all the trees blurring into green, thorns tearing at their clothes, the screeches of the creature behind them growing closer and closer.

"Do you know where we're going?" Alicia cried out to him.

"Away." Fred pulled on her wrist hard and yanked her forward as the creature slashed at her with its claws.

"What do we do?" Alicia screamed.

"Improvise." They continued running as fast as they could, randomly changing directions, as it seemed to confuse the apparently dim-witted creature. "That thing can't fly." Fred stopped suddenly.

"So? We can't either without brooms!"Alicia wheezed. Her rib cage felt like it was splitting open.

"No, we can't." Fred took out his wand.

"What are you doing? We have to run!" Alicia tugged on his arm.

"_Mobiliarus!" _Fred jerked his wand up and Alicia screamed as her body was lifted up into the sky. "Grab your wand, fast!"

Alicia shakily pointed her wand at Fred, who was trying hard to keep his hand steady as the screeches of the bird-thing sounded closer and closer. "_Mobiliarus._" Fred flew up into the air, almost crashing against a tree. "Sorry!"

Fred looked around. "We need to be higher." They levitated each other higher until they were above the treetops. "There's Hogwarts." He pointed. They could see the Gryffindor tower. They flicked their wands and catapulted through the air, their bodies jerking precariously.

"This isn't going to work much longer." Alicia said, "We can't keep focus while we're somersaulting in midair!"

Fred looked around desperately. "We'll land there, by the edge of the forest."

They landed in the middle of a river that suspiciously emerald green, but at least Fred knew where they were, even though what looked like the edge of the forest was actually a long ways away from where they wanted to be, but they tore through the forest, running again. Running, not away from everything they knew, but towards it. And when they finally emerged from the forest and collapsed on the grass in the Hogwarts courtyard, exhausted, sweaty, and aching all over, they were glad to be there.

"I love you Fred." Alicia barely had the breath for words, but she said it.

"What?" Fred was gasping for air.

"We got out. I said I'd tell you I love you when you get us out, and you did." She managed a smile, even though her lungs were on fire and she had the worst cramps from running. "God, dating you is going to be the biggest work out of my life."

They both laughed, even though they didn't have the breath to.

* * *

**_So I realized I feature characters disproportionately, but I'm getting there, it's going to be a lot more complicated than this. Definitely. If you know me, you know this story is going to be anything but straightforward and predictable ;) So if you care to know what's coming up, review. Please don't alert or favorite this without telling me something! Anything!_**


	4. Meaning

_**So thank you Merci Beaucoup, Ghee Buttersnaps 15, and prophecyquestions1021 for being the only people to review. I'd really like some more feedback!**_

* * *

It was half past midnight and the Ravenclaw common room was empty, but for Angelina and Neiman, furiously making out on the couch in the corner of the room.

"A wise man knows a woman's love is the most potent of poisons." From the tapestry behind them Socrates watched them moodily.

"All you wise men know nothing of love." Angelina pushed Neiman's face away and swung her legs from his lap onto the floor and stood up in one graceful motion. "I'm going to bed." She picked up her trench coat and walked away from Neiman.

Neiman laughed. "Wrong way Angel, my dorm's the other way."

"Mmm." Angelina mused condescendingly. "Not tonight Neiman."

He didn't even move to try and pull her back. "So you want to go out again."

Angelina laughed. "No, I'm bored of you." She started walking again.

All he saw was her silhouetted figure—her body perfectly sculpted—as he stared her up and down. _She probably looks better with her clothes off. _He grinned to himself. _She can't stay away. _No girl could. _One… two… three._

Angelina stopped in front of the door and turned around with a sweet smile. "Neiman?"

He smirked and slowly stood up. "Angel?"

Angelina jerked the door open. "Don't call me Angel."

In a heartbeat Neiman had crossed the room and slammed the door shut before she could leave. He glared at her through almost black eyes and grinned manically. She was standing against a door that wasn't opening any time soon and both of his arms—with biceps thicker than her thigh—were blocking her way. He breathed heavily and looked her up and down. His eyes raked her body hungrily. He could almost hear her heart racing, but he didn't know that she wasn't scared of him. Not. One. Bit.

Angelina always liked a challenge.

She threw her arms around his neck and brought their lips colliding. She attacked ravenously, slitting her tongue into his mouth and biting his lip when he hesitated in surprise. "There we go." She said roughly, pulling him down by his hair. "Where's your dorm again?"

Neiman, of course, was only too happy to show her. And Neiman, being the animal he was, happily indulged himself with Angelina. And Neiman, like the others, almost popped a blood vessel when he saw Angelina in a red lace bra. And Neiman, thinking he had outplayed Angelina, fell asleep as the moon and stars faded from the sky.

Angelina, of course, couldn't help but scoff at the hulking brute of a man sprawled across the bed moaning with pleasure in his dream. She took her time putting her clothes back on. Then, like she did with the others, she left before Neiman could wake up, and knowing she was never going to let herself get hurt again, fell asleep in her own bed as the first rays of dawn emerged.

* * *

Oliver leaned over the table in the common room and smiled broadly at Katie. "Hey."

Katie looked up at him and smiled back. "Hey."

Oliver picked up her quill from her hand and put it down on the table. "I was going to spend the day planning out tomorrow's practice." Katie made a face and he laughed. "And I was on my way to the Quidditch pitch," He continued. "And then I saw you and I think I'd rather take you out to dinner in Hogsmeade. So how about it?"

Katie closed her book on her essay and looked up at him. "Is this real?"

Oliver laughed. "For now." He took her hand and they left the common room.

In that moment it felt like nothing could take away her happiness. Oliver, the guy who always seemed out of reach, was now walking hand in hand with her. Oliver, whose head was always flying into clouds on his broom, had finally put it all aside to be with her. It was so unbelievably romantic and perfect.

_I guess love is real. _

How else could everything be explained? Oliver suddenly wanting to go out instead of staying holed up in his dorm sketching out plays. Katie replaying moments in her head instead of dismissing it as time that had already passed. The two of them laughing together at dinner instead of eating because neither of them could think about eating. Walking around the courtyard after curfew and talking—just talking—until dawn.

If it wasn't love then she was sure she'd never find it.

* * *

Lee was walking with her along an empty sidewalk, with maple trees on either side of the street. The leaves were just changing color and all the trees were brilliantly colored with red and orange leaves. The sidewalk was littered with gold leaves, curled up and crunching underfoot. The sun shone brightly, its warmth comfortably rivaled by the cool autumn air.

Elaina walked as if she were dancing. Her steps were light and graceful. She had her shoes in one hand and she was holding Lee's hand with the other. She talked as if she were singing. Her voice was so soft and clear. He loved hearing it. Everything she said sounded so beautiful. Lee didn't realize he was smiling until Elaina said, "I love it when you smile like that."

Startled, he blinked out of his momentary reverie. "Like what?"

Elaina smiled and tilted her head, as if she were studying him, except her eyes were sparkling with joy instead of scrutiny. She bit her lip to keep from giggling. He loved it when she did that, because she was still smiling—she was always smiling—the result was a cute slightly lopsided smile. "Like you're happy." She said finally.

Lee looked at her with genuine surprise. "What do you mean?"

Elaina looked up at the clouds and shrugged. "When we first started going out you seemed so… tense. Like you weren't really into the moment. You'd laugh but you weren't happy. But when you smile like that I—…." Her voice trailed off.

They took a few more steps in silence. He could feel her fingers slipping away, as if she wasn't holding on anymore. He squeezed her hand. "You what?"

Elaina looked at the cracks in the sidewalk. "You're not smiling anymore." She murmured.

Lee stopped walking. "Neither are you." He felt her hand slip away and watched as it reached for her other arm. She looked like she was trying to hold herself in. He put his hands on her shoulders, "What's wrong?" He said softly.

He brushed a lock of hair away from her face and tilted her chin up so that she could look into his eyes. "When you smiled just now, when you smile like that, it's like I'm floating through starlight." She took his hand and put it back to his side. His fingers twitched when her hand left his. "But then when you look at me, your eyes are looking through me and I know that smile wasn't meant for me."

"_What?_" It seemed to be the only word Lee could say right now as it slipped out with what felt like a last breath as his throat constricted. Somewhere in the back of his head his mind was racing and spinning, with images of Elaina and Angelina interweaving one another. Mostly, he was speechless and surprisingly hurt, but he couldn't deny what she was saying. Of course he couldn't. But she was wrong about one thing.

That smile was meant for her.

Because she made him happy. He loved the sound of her voice and the way she smiled and the conversations they had about stupid childish things like what they would do if a genie gave them three wishes or what their pets would say if they could talk. He loved spending time with her and making her laugh and listening to her talk about her life. He loved the fact that she saw the good in people and believed in redemption—especially for the villains in the old wizard comics they used to read—and didn't hate anyone, because he was all those things.

That smile was meant for her.

So why, when he looked up and saw that she was gone, didn't he look for her?

* * *

It was Tuesday night. Angelina was bored of homework, tired of Quidditch, and annoyed of her roommates. So she grabbed a flimsy white top from her wardrobe— completely open in the back with two strings on the top to tie into a bow and prevent it from falling off of her completely (in other words, oozing sex appeal)—and a red high waisted mini skirt. She put on her strappy silver stilettos, adjusted her ponytail, and then went off to look for Lee. She hadn't seen him since Sunday, actually, which was rather odd. She tried his dorm, was disappointed but not surprised to find he wasn't there, and overjoyed that George wasn't either. He wasn't in the common room, where George and Katie were playing Exploding Snap while Fred and Alicia made out on the couch.

She knew all his favorite places, of course, and she looked in all of them, only to find that he wasn't there.

Finally, she resorted to breaking Alicia and Fred apart and asking Fred, while ignoring the looks she was getting from George, who would of course, give her hell for her outfit. "Probably somewhere with Elaina." He said irritably before shoving her away and returning to his long kiss with Alicia.

The look of cool rage on her face would have scared them if they were looking at her.

"What's the matter Princess?" George drawled. He didn't need to see her face to know what she was thinking.

"I'm in no mood to solve riddles. Just leave me alone." She stormed out the common room, grabbed the collar of the first hot guy that walked past her and kissed him long and hard. The poor guy probably didn't even know who she was, but like anyone else, was powerless once she started kissing him. When at last, after thirty seconds, he realized what was happening, he looked up at her with confusion. "Angelina Johnson." Angelina said impatiently.

"Oh, wow I know, I just, uh." He stammered. "I'm Andrew Nathanson."

Angelina sighed with annoyance. "Now that introductions are out of the way, which way is your dorm?"

Andrew blinked rapidly with surprise. "Uh, this way." He pointed.

Angelina looked at him critically. "Hufflepuff." She said decidedly. Not preferred, but whatever, maybe there would be a hotter guy in the Hufflepuff common room.

* * *

George grinned as the tower of Exploding Snap cards collapsed with a loud noise in Fred's face. "That makes for a winning streak." He had won three times now.

"Do you think you could win more quietly?" Katie looked up from her essay. It was due tomorrow morning or she was going to get detention, and it was almost midnight.

"Do you think you could go out with someone normal?" George flicked one of the cards at her.

Okay, so maybe Katie shouldn't have gone out to dinner with Oliver when she had a pile of homework due the next day, but she _was _the one who told him to have fun. So it made sense that she should encourage him. "What would you know about being normal?" Katie shot back.

Lee entered the common room, looking upset, and sat at the chair by the fire. "Have you seen—"

"Angelina's in one of the seventh year dorms' showing off her new bra." George said, shuffling the Exploding Snap cards.

Lee smiled uneasily. Unlike the others, he found hiding his feelings difficult. "I was actually going to ask if you'd seen Elaina."

"We haven't."

Alicia studied Lee. "Are you okay?"

"I just need to talk to Elaina." Lee looked around the common room looking for one of Elaina's roommates.

After wandering around Hogsmeade thinking about what he should do, he had spent the night looking for Elaina. He wondered how it was possible that she disappeared in the five seconds that his brain had temporarily paralyzed.

A moment later, Angelina entered the common room and eyes began to turn. Her lip stick was smeared and the back of her shirt was undone, practically falling off her shoulders. "You look glum." Angelina sat down next to Lee. She, on the other hand, was feeling pretty good. She had just emerged from the Hufflepuff sixth year dorms after spending a good two hours marveling at Cedric Diggory's gorgeous body as he did pushups and situps shirtless while she made out with his roommate. Andrew… something… he obviously wasn't very good.

"I'm alright." Lee said, watching Fred and George.

"Mmmm." Angelina wasn't buying it. She turned around. "Tie this for me?" He obligingly pulled her shirt onto her shoulders and tied the back. She him her necklace. "This too."

Lee took the necklace in his hand and looked at it for a moment before clasping it around her neck. He didn't even have the heart to care what she was trying to tell him. Angelina smiled at him and snaked her legs across his lap. Lee stood up. He didn't have the emotional capacity to be with her right now. "I have to go." Alicia and Katie looked at him worriedly. He gave them half hearted hugs to let them know they were right but he was fine.

Angelina shrugged and started to look around the room. George stretched in his chair and leaned over towards her. "Don't even bother, Princess." He said lightly, so that no one else heard.

"Don't mind me. I'm just waiting for a hot guy to come into the common room." Angelina waved him away.

"Don't we count?" Fred grinned.

Alicia smiled at him and he looked at her adoringly. Angelina rolled her eyes. "You have a girlfriend."

"But I'm still hot?" Fred grinned.

Angelina laughed. "That's not my call." Her eye caught a seventh year coming down the stairs. "Mmm, now _him._"

"Oh I wouldn't bother, Princess." George smirked. Elaina entered the common room just as Lee came down the stairs to retrieve his jacket. Everyone looked from Angelina to Lee to Elaina, thinking about Angelina and Lee's strange behavior. "You might want to stay for this."

Angelina had her back to the common room entrance. She rolled her eyes. "For what?" George nodded in Elaina's direction. She didn't bother to look—she already assumed it was Elaina but didn't want him to know that she knew and was still watching. Instead, she examined an imaginary chip in her nail polish. Deeming a microscopic fissure as a problem, she began to peel off her nail polish, pretending to ignore what was happening.

Elaina and Lee froze upon eye contact. Their bodies visible tensed and it seemed that they wanted to avoid each other, but on the other hand, they had something to say, and unfortunately she was going upstairs and he was coming downstairs, so there was really no avoiding it. Lee walked down the stairs slowly, his head spinning as he tried to think of what to say even though he'd had the whole day to think about it. Elaina looked around uncertainly before starting across the common room. Inevitably, they met at the end of the common room.

They looked at each other, blushed, eyes widened, and then looked away. Elaina fidgeted with the hem of her shirt and Lee rubbed his neck.

"Listen, I'm sorry—" They both said at the same time.

"—I just wanted to say—" Elaina.

"—I should have—" Lee.

They both rambled on, unable to stop. "—I wasn't trying to hurt you—"

"—I really like you—" Lee.

"—I like you a lot—" Elaina.

"—I don't know, maybe even lo—" Both.

Lee wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close, and kissed her, cutting them off mid-word. Her lips were soft and she tasted like strawberries and honey. She moved slowly as if she was uncertain, but then again, so did he. The impulsiveness of his action died down the minute they made contact. All he knew was that this felt right. "Love." He whispered, finishing the word they were about to say.

Elaina looked up at him. "Love you." She finished their sentence.

Lee and Elaina smiled each other, taking this all in.

Angelina realized her fingernails were digging into her hand and looked down to see that she had chipped off all her nail polish. Must have been an intriguing show.

"Something wrong, Princess?" George's voice floated into her head and burned something inside her.

She brushed away the nail polish flakes—the only evidence that Lee's little interaction with Elaina meant anything to her, evidence which no one else seemed to notice as they were absorbed in the soap opera moment—and stood up.

"I need a manicure."

* * *

_**Like it? Hate it? Love it? TELL MEEEEEEEE! (Yeah, I'm that desperate) I'm probably still featuring some characters unproportionally... so tell me who you want to see more of, who you would realllllly like to end up together (it will give me ideas xD), and um anything!**_

_** Also I know this was a really short chapter and sort of fillerish, but I promise it will get better!**_


	5. Knowing

_**Thank you to Lalabugg, theangelshavethephonebox99, Ghee Buttersnaps15, prophecyquestions1021 and Merci Beaucoup for reviewing this story :) You guys are awesome and I really appreciate it! Everyone else... well... :/**_

* * *

The next few months at Hogwarts went by quite uneventfully— _uneventfully_ being a relative term for the group. Fred and George still had detention every other night for causing mayhem (generally accompanied by Lee), Angelina was now missing from her dorm _every _night instead of every Saturday ("Wow, you're getting around, Princess"), Katie was still in the floating-above-the-world-and-completely-in-love phase with Oliver (not surprisingly, he was still disliked by the group), Alicia was sneaking around at night with Fred almost every night (occasionally getting caught by a very angry Head Boy Percy), and for the most part they were all happy (or pretending to be).

It was normal, everyday life for a group of wizarding teens who had a melodramatic flair for adventure and a penchant for attracting trouble.

By the time December had come around life was starting to fall back into a regular pattern. George was still giving Angelina hell. Lee and Elaina were convinced they were in love. Fred and Alicia were still obnoxiously coupley. Katie still thought she was changing Oliver. The only problem was, life was not simply _normal _for them. Things were just taking time to take form. In fact, on a certain December 18, everything started to unravel again.

It had been a long day for Oliver. His N.E.W.T. classes were handing out more homework than ever and if he didn't get good enough marks he would be kicked off the Quidditch team. His team had been less than enthusiastic about the week's practice schedule, and he had spent a good two hours after practice trying to think of new plays and for once in his life, came up with nothing.

Oliver entered his dorm, threw his books and Quidditch robes on the floor, and managed to walk to his bed without falling over even though his vision was off center, as if the whole world was tilted on an axis that kept rotating. It hadn't even been twelve hours yet, and he was already feeling weak. _Damn. _He knew he shouldn't have done it, but he had started taking more and more every time and he was starting to become dependent. What started off as intervals of a day because twelve hours, and would continue to decline.

Then again, why should that be a problem?

He grabbed two vials from the secret compartment in the wall and swallowed the ice-cold liquid. _It's not enough. _He knew that, but for now it would be fine. Maybe he'd fall asleep and not even need the rest.

_Maybe._

A couple hours later it started all over again. The chills settled in and he felt as if icicles were growing in his lungs. The pain—the _searing _pain—wracked his entire body and it took every ounce of determination in him not to cry out. He was losing it. His brain was going up in flames.

_Hold on, _a voice that sounded like Katie's pleaded him to keep fighting, _please._

He thought about Katie. He didn't want to hurt her. He really didn't. He loved the way she laughed and the way she always made him have fun when he was stressed out about Quidditch and the way she looked at him like he had put the stars in the sky. He really liked her. Maybe even loved her. He thought about that first day of school when she had found her dancing on top of that fountain in the rain. He thought about the night he took her out to dinner at Hogsmeade, except they didn't eat really, they just talked and laughed until their sides hurt—he had never laughed like that before. He thought about their first kiss, just three days ago, when they had taken a moonlit stroll; he remembered thinking that he could stand there with her in his arms forever because it felt so good.

_Hold on. _

He was drowning inside out in acid. He was burning with flames of ice. He was choking on the taste of his own blood. He was being crushed by darkness that exploded inside him into blinding lights.

A moan of pain escaped his lips.

_Just one more moment. One more second._

And then that second passed.

* * *

At midnight exactly, when everyone in their dorms had fallen asleep, Fred sneaked into Alicia's dorm, caught her by surprise, and they shared the best kiss she'd had (up to that moment). Alicia giggled and pulled the hangings closed. There was a simple thrill in having a guy in her dorm—even if they weren't doing anything except _great _kissing—that made every cell inside her tingle with excitement. They made a game of staying up late in each other's dorms without getting caught. It wasn't that they were afraid of getting caught—although they pretended they were, because that was part of the experience—but they had fun thinking that they were hiding a huge not-so-secret-secret right under their roommates noses.

Alicia whispered in between kisses, "What if one of my roommates comes in?"

"They can't see us." Fred kissed her slow and sweet. "Besides, what's life without breaking a few rules?"

Alicia wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his chest. She loved the feeling of his strong arms around her. Fred was the first and only person she had fallen in love with, and at times their relationship felt almost surreal because it was so perfect. Sometimes she was afraid that she would wake up and realize that it was all a dream. Or that at any moment it would fall apart because nothing in her life had ever been perfect. She couldn't decide if she wanted to close her eyes and just enjoy every moment they had, or if she wanted to do everything she could to be careful and preserve this.

Funny that they had been together for four months now and she still felt the way she did the first night he kissed her. Maybe that's what love is.

The door to her dorm opened and the voices of her roommates drifted in.

They stole one last, slow kiss before they reluctantly pulled apart. Alicia sighed. "You should probably go." As much as she wanted to spend time with him, she wasn't ready to spend a night with him.

Fred quieted her with another kiss. He was intoxicating and she considered completely forgetting about what she just said. He drew away in mid-kiss, leaving her wanting to throw him back down on her bed and make out some more. "Okay" He whispered. Fred kissed her on the cheek and she murmured good night. Her roommates were laughing and talking amongst themselves, not paying much attention to anything. Fred slipped out the door unseen—like a shadow flickering across the walls— back to his dorm.

She stared at the closed door, his absence slowly sinking into her. It was always like this when he left.

_I'm in love with Fred Weasley. _

The words repeated themselves in her head all the time. She just couldn't believe that when all this drama was going on between her friends, she had managed to not only escape the drama, but to fall into a dreamy romance. Alicia felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

* * *

A little after midnight, even though Katie knew she should have been sleeping, she went over to Oliver's dorm. She was sitting on his bed doodling on parchment while he did his before-bed-exercise-routine. Katie wasn't a bad artist actually. She looked at her drawing—it was a landscape of the school courtyard, with the Forbidden Forest in the background and Hagrid's hut in the foreground—and admired it.

_Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap._

She tapped her quill against the parchment, which she had set on top of Oliver's playbook because it was a flat surface the perfect size to hold in her lap. She watched Oliver do one-armed pushups. Unlike the vast majority of the school's selection of boys, who were mostly gangly guys, Oliver had thick bands of muscle all over his body. In the dim light and silent night he seemed almost menacing, but Katie didn't think so as she swung her legs back and forth and watched him absently.

Oliver finally finished and stood up, with a serious and thoughtful look on his face. "Where's my playbook?"

_Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap._

Katie was still staring at him. "Hm?" She said absently, her quill still tapping against the parchment.

"I need my playbook." Oliver muttered, flipping through the mess of things on his dresser and scattering them on his floor. "If we use the starfish formation but instead have Chaser A on the left slope instead of the right, and Chaser B on the…" He became more agitated as he talked and even more when he couldn't find his playbook.

_Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap._

Katie pointed her wand at the parchment and watched the different colored inks blend into water color. All the while she kept tapping her quill. She didn't realize the playbook was under her parchment.

_Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap._

She absently glanced around the room. Oliver had always been oddly neat—in an obsessive compulsive way. Everything in his wardrobe hung straight, the things on his dresser were set there for a specific purpose, and his trunk was neatly tucked under his bed. The boys always teased him for it. Everything had a place and it was always _in _its place.

She frowned as she looked around.

On the nightstand were four empty glass vials—vials that would normally be in the trash, the contents which were periodically vanished. On the floor his backpack had been thrown down by the bed and the contents were spilling out. There was a mess of things on his dresser.

_Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap._

Katie tapped faster as she continued thinking about how odd this was. "Oliver are you sure you're okay? What are you even looking f—"

"Stop the tapping." Oliver said tersely. "I'm thinking." He paced the room mumbling about positions and flight patterns. His brow kept furrowing and his expression became more and more frustrated until it blended into a look of anguished pain. His pacing was become faster and his steps more uneven too.

_Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap._

As Katie became absorbed in watching him and thinking her quill started tapping again. "Stop it!"

Katie snapped out of her reverie with a start. "Are you okay?" Katie was shocked at his strange behavior, but more concerned actually. He was shaking now.

Oliver walked away from her, muttering, "If Chaser C reversed the phoenix flight pattern they could cover the upper left field and upper right field. Then if Chaser B used the triangulation method of…"

Katie's mind drifted back to the empty glass vials and backpack on the floor. She picked up one of the glass vials. There were a few drops of black liquid in them that were sparkling like facets. It was a bit odd considering her arm was blocking the light.

"I need to diagram this. I need to diagram this." He looked around the room, his eyes darting rapidly until they landed on hers. The fierce and rabid look in his eyes made her drop the vial.

"Oliver?" Katie felt her skin crawl all of a sudden as he looked at her, his eyes hollow looking. "Oliver, what's going on?"

"Why do you have it?" He said coldly.

"Have what?" Katie stood up cautiously.

"Give it to me!"

Katie wanted to back away. "Oliver please, I don't—"

Oliver grabbed the playbook from her hand and then began to diagram madly. "Then if the opposing team uses the griffin formation Chasers A and B use reverse…" He roughly flipped the page without even finishing his sentence, diagramming faster than he could talk.

Katie quietly left the room. She didn't think that he noticed.

* * *

At three in the morning, Angelina was lying on the edge of the bed, some tall and muscular sixth year's arms around her—seemingly trapping her—and his body pressed against hers. After he fell asleep she had inched across the bed, but somehow he kept getting closer and closer and she was now at the edge of the bed. When she was sure he was asleep, she slowly peeled herself away from his sweaty body and got up off the bed.

"Ugh. Gross." She wrinkled her nose. Nick Sommers was not making it onto the list of guys she would ever sleep with again. He bit her several times and then gotten sweaty while they were making out, and his hands were all calloused.

She retrieved her various articles of clothing from around the room and then left his dorm. As she walked through the Ravenclaw common room, across the castle to the Gryffindor wing, and up to her dorm, she was thinking about Lee and Elaina. He was so happy when he was with her. And even though she normally didn't give a damn if a guy had a girlfriend, Lee wasn't just any guy. In the same way that she wouldn't just grab Fred and tear his clothes off—first, because he was her friend and that would be awkward, but more importantly, because she cared about his feelings—she wasn't going to do the same thing to Lee.

It just didn't feel right.

Angelina grabbed clean clothes from her dorm and then headed off to the showers. Not the normal showers, no, she headed off to the prefects' showers. Cedric Diggory had been only too happy to give her the password after a week of spending the night with him, having a _fabulous _time. She turned on every faucet of bubbles, perfume, and hot water. The scent of fruity flowers filled the air and she breathed it in. Much better than the odor of sweat and cologne in Nick Sommers' dorm.

As she was drying off she noticed a trail of bruises on her body. They circled her wrists, wound up her thighs, traced around her neck, down her chest, and the largest one was right above her left hip bone. She sighed. That disgusting brute just couldn't control himself_. _She pressed down on the purple spot on her left hip. It hurt a little, but she barely felt it. She was well conditioned against pain and several other things— drugs, alcohol, and the expression of emotions; just a little practice every day makes perfect.

She applied a facial mask, exfoliated twice, plucked her eyebrows, re-curled her eyelashes, rubbed her lips with sugar and honey until they were smooth (except for the places where Nick bit her so hard her lips bled), put on lotion, shaved her legs, and began the process of taming her hair. Naturally, her hair formed voluminous spiraling ringlets that she _hated. _A combination of special shampoos, conditioners, hair creams, detanglers, and various hair rinses managed to subdue her hair into a waterfall of straight glossy hair that she normally put into a high ponytail. It was a necessary waste of time.

The bathroom mirror was covered in steam. She pointed her wand at it and watched the steam evaporate. She scrutinized her reflection. She was tall, and thanks to intense work outs (Quidditch made a lovely excuse) and down-to-the-single-calorie calculations, quite thin. It had taken her a while to figure out the whole dieting thing—she tried all sorts of things that her body didn't respond to, and at one point she had dieted herself too thin—but right now she had gotten bit just right: about five pounds over justifiable anorexia. She had a heart-shaped face with exquisite features that she supposed she was lucky to have.

"I am beautiful." She said to herself, smiling confidently, as if she meant it. She said this five times. She used to say it twenty or thirty times, but now she was good at acting and it didn't take her much to plaster on a genuine-looking smile. Only someone equally good at suppressing their feelings would know otherwise.

She put on her pajamas, ready to go to bed and sleep for three hours—these days, with O.W.L. level homework, Quidditch, and guys, that was a lot— before it was time to get up for breakfast and classes. She would, of course, get dressed and ready in twenty minutes and every girl in her dorm would hate herself a little for not being as naturally gorgeous as Angelina. _Right. _She headed back up to her dorm and almost walked into Lee, who was coming out of Elaina's dorm, when she reached the circular area on top of the stairs that branched off into the different dorms.

"Sorry." They both mumbled sleepily. Then they noticed each other.

"Getting kinky with Elaina?" Angelina teased with a flirty smile.

Lee rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the floor awkwardly. He actually hadn't talked alone to Angelina in quite a while, and, in his defense, it was quite an awkward comment for her to make. "Looks more like someone got kinky with _you_." He nodded at the bruises visible on her neck and wrists. He frowned and moved closer to take a look. "Are you okay?" He gently touched her neck. The bruises were the size fingerprints.

She rolled her eyes. Of course Lee would go from teasing to concerning in the blink of an eye. "You've never noticed them before?" This wasn't exactly the first time it happened. Guys got carried away in the moment, didn't realize their own strength, or liked to show it off.

Lee frowned. "No" It sounded like he didn't believe her. He looked at her intently, his eyes searching her face—it wasn't the fact that he was looking at her that bothered her, but the _way _he was looking at her, as if looking for something missing. She knew her friends felt that way about her sometimes, but they never _stared _at her that way. His eyes landed on her lips and he furrowed his eyebrows as he bit his lip, imagining what happened. Lee put his hand on her shoulder and slipped it down to her arm. A few months ago he would have pulled her in close and whispered something flirty. Now he just looked at her with sad eyes. His fingers encircled her slender arm. "Why do you do this?"

Angelina stepped back. Lee's hand fell back to his side. "Why are _you _acting like this? A couple months ago you would have done it _with _me."

Lee looked at her with a kind of sadness in his eyes that she had seen all too much of. It was as if he was watching his best friend die and trying not to cry. In other words, the look of having given up on all hope. "I just can't do this with you anymore. And I don't know how much longer you can either. It's not you."

Angelina's eyes flashed angrily. "You know, if you just want to stand there telling me you know me better than I do and trying to make me feel like shit, then just wake up George and save your breath." She turned around and stormed back to her dorm, slamming the door in his face.

* * *

Fred smiled to himself as he left Alicia's dorm. As he passed by the stairs on his way to his own dorm the flicker of the fire caught his eye. The fire was never on unless someone was in the common room and at this late hour, he wondered who it could be. He stood at the top of the stairs and craned his neck to see. He didn't see anyone, but he bet it was Ron and Harry and he was going to give them a good scare just for fun. Without making a sound, he slipped down the stairs and looked around the common room.

It was Katie.

She was sitting on the floor with her back against the couch by the fire staring blankly at the textbook on the floor beside her.

Fred sat beside her and put his arm around her. "What are you doing, Katie Kate?" He asked, using his old nickname for her.

Katie picked up her copy of _Influential Wizards of the Fifteenth Century. _"I forgot I have an essay due tomorrow. It'll be my third missing assignment if I don't turn something in."

This was a lie. She wanted to tell him the truth, but she _couldn't. _He was going to get angry at Oliver and then tell her she should stop seeing him. But it wasn't Oliver's fault. She was sure that he had just had a bad day and that it was late and that she had just been too stupid to realize she had the playbook all along. And who _cared _if there were empty glass vials on his desk and his backpack was spilling over onto the floor? Maybe she had come in just before he could clean it up.

Fred wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on the top of her head. "You don't have A History of Magic tomorrow." In other words: _Liar, liar, pants on fire._

"I couldn't sleep." Katie mumbled. It crossed her sleepy mind that he didn't know she went over to his dorm after midnight.

"Did Oliver do something to you?" Of course, that didn't stop him from coming to such conclusions. He read her like a book. "If he hurt you I swear I'll—"

"It's not about Oliver." She interrupted him. "I'm fine. I have a migraine and I can't sleep and Sydney Rowe won't stop talking in her sleep and Courtney Silvers snores like a _tractor_—"

"A _what_?"

"It's a muggle thing." Katie waved her hand. As a muggleborn she was always making references to things Fred didn't know about.

Fred raised his eyebrows in a questioning way (and not because he wanted to know what a tractor was). "A migraine." He repeated doubtfully.

Katie scowled. "If you don't believe me what do you _think _happened, then?"

"I think Oliver did something that made you upset or scared and that I'm going to punch him in the face tomorrow." Fred said nonchalantly.

"I told you it wasn't Oliver." Katie crossed her arms.

"Don't lie." Fred said softly. In living memory Katie had never lied to him before.

"It's not a lie." She said. Not if she didn't believe it herself.

* * *

Angelina was absolutely giddy with excitement as she walked back from shopping in Hogsmeade with Katie at her side. Fred had gone off with Alicia, as did Lee and Elaina. The only unaccounted person was George, and she really didn't care what he was plotting or even if it had to do with her, because she was too excited. In fact, she was so happy that she almost started to feel weird about being happy and stopped smiling. There were times when it was better for people not to know what she was feeling and she was great at it.

When she got back to her dorm she threw her shopping bags on her bed, except for one from _Live, Love, Lace_, which she crammed into her wardrobe behind a stack of shoes. If Alicia saw it she would inevitably ask her why she bought a lacy black corset and demand answers. It was better that no one knew about the devious plan she had in mind. Oh, they'd know soon enough—along with the entire school. She fixed her ponytail and then went down to the common room to join the others.

Blaine Lash, her target, was in the corner of the common room looking attractive and charming as always, with several girls giggling and flirting with him.

"Why is he here?" Fred asked her suspiciously when she sat down next to Katie and Alicia.

"Because I asked him to be." Angelina said evenly.

George laughed. "_Asked_? I doubt that, Princess." Well she didn't verbally request him to, if that's what he meant. She'd actually given him a flirty smirk in the Great Hall as she left breakfast, after which he'd grabbed her and made out with her in a broom closet and then asked for the common room password.

Angelina shrugged. "And your manners are better?"

Fred and Lee looked apprehensively at Blaine. Alicia shifted her feet uncomfortably. George was still smiling, but only Angelina could see that he was running through in his mind, the various implications of Blaine's presence. But what would he know? Katie finally said, "Who is he?"

"He used to be the Slytherin Quidditch captain." Fred explained.

"Until Madam Hooch found bane in his locker." George added.

Katie looked at them questioningly. "What's bane?"

Everyone looked at her with surprise, as if she had just displayed a lack of common sense. "You've never heard of bane?" Lee said incredulously.

"No."

"Really?" Alicia looked surprised too.

"You've never heard of oblivion, petrol, onyx, catalyst—" George started listing things off.

"What_?_" Katie interrupted.

"It's called venenum, but most people call it bane." Alicia said.

"Is it a drug?" Katie didn't lack _that _much common sense to know what slang terms usually denoted.

"Yes, sweetie, congratulations for figuring that out. Now you know to stay away from it at parties." Angelina patted her head.

"It gives you inhuman strength, heightens awareness, and quickens reflexes." Alicia explained. "You'll actually learn more about it later in Potions because it's a product of dragon blood toxins and classified as a poison in certain concentrations. It's addictive and you start to become biologically dependent on it. People lose their memory, become impulsive—it's bad." She turned to Angelina. "And people certainly don't put it in party drinks. It's too hard to get a hold of."

Angelina just smiled. "Right. Guys will usually spike your drinks with Vitalaric, but that's a different story. All you need to know is that Blaine is bad news, which makes him attractive."

Blaine did not look like bad news, though. He had honey blond hair, twinkling blue eyes, an easy smile, and sparkling white teeth. "Did you say he was a Slytherin?" Katie asked. He didn't look like one. Slytherins were usually sneering and obnoxious. This guy looked charming and perfectly nice.

"Yes." Angelina made eye contact with Blaine, shrugged her body in a sly and attractive way that most girls could never hope to pull off. Blaine nodded his head towards the portrait hole. She sighed, as if to say _if you say so. _He left his gaggle of girls.

"Um, Angelina I don't think—" Alicia started to say.

"Don't tell me what to do." Angelina snapped, getting up to leave the common room.

"Come on, Princess." George said warily. "Even you know better." The way he said the last part—not just condescendingly, but _knowingly _sent chills down her spine, but Angelina ignored him. _He can't possibly understand._

She had a score to settle.

* * *

Oliver was standing on the Quidditch pitch. As usual. It seemed no matter how hard Katie tried to convince him to live for something other than Quidditch, he always ended up back on the Quidditch pitch. Occasionally he would surprise her and take her out instead of planning practice or cancel practice if she _really _wanted him to, but last night as she sat in front of the fireplace thinking about him she realized that he was slipping away.

Katie timidly approached him. He was staring at the goalposts in the distance. She could see the gears running in his head, spinning out new plays. She wondered if she should interrupt his thinking. She cleared her throat. He didn't notice. "Um, Oliver?"

He turned to her and smiled broadly. "Hey," There was no trace of the anger from last night and he didn't seem mad that she interrupted him from his Quidditch reverie—which he usually wasn't too happy about. In fact, he looked perfectly happy. "What do you say I shorten tonight's practice and take you out to dinner at your favorite restaurant?"

Katie smiled, glad that the previous night was forgotten. "Really?" Her eyes sparkled with delight. "That sounds great!"

"We haven't gone out in a while because of Quidditch and all. I'm sorry." He looked genuinely sorry.

"It's alright. You're just doing your job as a captain." Katie couldn't stop smiling. "And I'm sorry about last night."

Oliver looked at her quizzically. "Last night?"

Katie went on."I can't believe I was so stupid, not realizing that I had the playbook next to me. And for tapping my quill. I should've realized it was annoying."

"Oh… uh…" He looked confused for a moment and then smiled at her again, causing her to think that maybe she had just imagined his questioning look. "It's alright. Don't even worry about it."

_Damn. What happened last night?_

* * *

George stood in the doorway of Angelina's dorm. Angelina was putting on eye shadow by the vanity and ignoring him.

"Um, I don't think you're supposed to be here." A shy girl in his year, Rose Riis said timidly.

George gave her a dazzling smile that made her blush. "Oh, I'm sorry, Rosie. Do you want me to leave?"

Rose blushed even more when he called her Rosie. "Um no." She squeaked. "It's okay."

He winked at her. "Thanks Rosie."

She nodded, melting into a pile at his feet, and left the room with a dizzy look in her eyes. Angelina sighed. "This better be important." She set down the eye shadow and opened a tube of mascara. "You didn't have to do that to her. She'll think she's in love with you."

"Come on Princess, why shouldn't she be?" George walked into the room and leaned against her bed.

Angelina could see him in the mirror. "For reasons too many to list. What do you want?"

George glanced at the dresser and suddenly remembered the red book he had found. "To call a truce for two minutes. Not too much to ask for, is it Princess?"

Angelina set down her mascara and stared at him through the mirror. "Why?"

"Because if you never listen to a single word I ever say, you need to listen to what I'm about to tell you."

Taken by curiosity Angelina actually considered this. "One minute. What is it?"

"Don't do this with Blaine." George said, looking at her seriously. Angelina stared at him hard. She had a feeling that for once, there was no double meaning to what he said. It was plain what he meant. "It won't be worth it."

Angelina whirled around. "You have no idea what this is about, do you?" She said angrily.

George looked at her with a melancholy look. _Like that's going to work. Like I'm really going to fall for the whole I-know-you-and-you-don't-have-to-do-this charade. _"I know." He said simply.

"You can't possibly know." She said darkly.

"Just think about it, Princess." George murmured.

"Your time's up." Angelina turned back to the vanity.

George walked over to the vanity and pulled open the top drawer. He pulled out a box labeled _nail polish _and lifted the lid. Inside was the red leather journal. Angelina stared with a mixture of fear and anger. "Isn't revenge supposed to be a double edged sword or something?" He was talking in his usual teasingly condescending voice and Angelina sensed a double meaning that she didn't like. "Although I don't know what you'd do with a single edged sword." He mused, leaning on the vanity.

Angelina looked up at him. "Run it through anyone who gets in my way. So don't."

George tossed the red journal to her. "I'm not the one in your way," He winked and left the room, leaving her to consider the second half of that sentence.

* * *

**_There's major hints here as to what's going on with Oliver, if you haven't noticed xD Also with Angelina. Because seriously, knowing what I'm going to write as her story, there are crazy double meanings in everything George says. _**

**_I'd really love it if you hit that review button :D_**


	6. Asking

_**Thank you 1hellyeahz1, Ghee Buttersnaps15, Lalabugg, Written Sparks, Laurissa, and PottedLillies for reviewing :) It made me really happy! **_

_**Anyways, it seems like George is a favorite character and that you all like Katie/Oliver, so I'll try and have more of that. I have exciting plans for them :D**_

_**Well, enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think! **_

* * *

Blaine could feel the blood rushing to his head when he saw Angelina walking down hall in gold high heels, white skinny jeans, and a gold silk halter top. Her legs were gorgeous—even sheathed in jeans—long, and lean. Her top displayed enough of her body so that it wasn't quite too much, but enough that he wanted to rip her clothes off her body and take her down right in the hallways. It was empty, anyways, seeing as it was dawn and she was likely on her way back to her dorm after ditching some guy.

Normally Angelina gave him the cold shoulder and pretended he didn't exist, which, he played along with by being just as cold. But every now and then one of them broke the ice while on their way to planning revenge, and he just couldn't help but get pulled into it. He was going to regret it alright, but something about Angelina was magical and magnetic. Of course he knew that his impulsiveness and animal-like desire was going to cost him big, but he could always get her back later. He always got her back. But that was for later.

For now he just wanted to tear off her clothes.

So in just a few strides, he caught up to her, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her into an abandoned classroom. He slammed the door behind him, pinned her to the wall, and started kissing her. When she kissed him back he felt like there was fire burning through his veins. He hated it, but he loved it at the same time. She made him passionate, angry, hateful, and impulsive. That would be the power she forever held against him.

Angelina moaned softly as he started kissing her neck and what was already exposed of her chest. He put one hand behind her neck and worked his way back up. She ran her lips along his jaw line and kissed him again. Kissing her was like breathing in fireworks—he was burning up and exploding inside, but those sparks were always igniting his desire into flames. His hands reached under her shirt and caressed her body, snaking around her torso and up her back. In one fluid movement he would have her shirt off her body and on the floor.

Angelina laughed in a low and condescending way. "Oh, you're not getting that yet." She tilted her head back so he could see her smug expression as she pushed him away.

"Aw come on, babe." He fingered the clasp of her bra.

Angelina peeled his arms off her body and smoothed her shirt over her perfect body. "You have to want it."

"Babe, you know I do." He grinned sinisterly at her.

Angelina smiled cooly and let her hand trail down his chest, pulling off one of the buttons on his shirt as she left. "We'll see about that."

* * *

Katie woke up bright and early on Saturday morning. Why, she didn't know, but since she was up, she might as well enjoy the morning. She pulled apart her curtains and sunlight streamed in. She smiled, as the sun was up rather early for a winter morning and looked out to see that the lake had finally frozen over. It would be a good day to go ice skating.

_Well, this is going to be a great day, _she thought to herself.

Generally, she was quite optimistic—you can't really enjoy your drink if you're worried about your glass being half empty. She felt like this morning had shown every indication of being the start of a great day and was determined to enjoy every moment of it. That was Katie's philosophy on life—capture and enjoy every moment. Sometimes she slipped up and got upset or worried about things, but in general she didn't dwell on things and was easily cheered up anyways. Besides, it was a bit hard to stay upset when she had friends like Fred and George who had even managed to make McGonagall laugh on occasion.

She turned around to get ready and saw from the window on the adjacent wall that Oliver was running laps around the Quidditch pitch. It seemed that no matter hard she tried to convince him otherwise, Oliver was still strung up on Quidditch. She wished he wasn't, and was determined to make him see that Quidditch was but a cellular sized piece of what the world had to offer.

In a way, Oliver was the one person that tied her down to something. Sometimes Katie realized she was just floating around between moments, trying to ignore the problems her friends were facing and pretending the problems in the world didn't exist. But Oliver was somehow always consistent in her life. She'd liked him since she first met him, as did most of the girls in her year. He had always been something of a fantasy to them, just a guy they would pretend knew their names and ever looked twice at them. She hadn't ever imagined he would ever see anything in her—most guys saw her as an airhead who didn't know or care about much of anything.

Yet, he did. It was like a dream come true. Katie thought that she might have that muggle fairytale-perfect romance. The one where love conquers all and you'd do anything for love.

So she ignored her friends' obvious dislike for Oliver and told herself that she could change him. Because that's what you do for love.

Katie got dressed, practically flew down the stairs, said hi to Alicia who was sitting on the window sill deep in thought, and made her way over to the Quidditch pitch. Oliver smiled when he saw her and ran over to her.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked.

"What are _you _doing out here? It's Saturday morning." Katie said teasingly. "Don't you sleep at all?"

Oliver shrugged. "I like to run in the mornings."

"How about I walk your cool down with you?" Katie said, her way of telling him _stop being obsessed with Quidditch training._

Oliver smiled and took her hand. "Sounds good."

"It's a beautiful day." Katie said.

Oliver looked up at the sky. It was clear blue with few clouds in sight, and even though it was cold, the sun was shining brightly. "Yeah, it's nice. Do you want to go ice skating later?"

Katie smiled. "Yes! I was thinking about that earlier."

He smiled back. "Is it good that I'm starting to think like you?"

She laughed. "Yes, and you know it. You're all strung up on Quidditch."

He gave her a skeptical look. "So?"

"So you need me! Admit it."

"Oh, I don't know about that." He pretended to deliberate this, but he was smiling. "I guess…" He teased.

Katie smirked. "You'll come around… you know it."

Oliver stopped and wrapped his arms around her. "I think I already have." He leaned down and kissed her. "Yeah, I definitely have." He kissed her again.

Katie giggled. "I told you, didn't I?"

"Did you?" He tilted her chin up and looked into her eyes.

"Yes." She said, grinning. "Now go find a shower. You're all sweaty and gross."

* * *

Alicia sat on the window sill of the largest window in the common room, a thoughtful and determined expression on her face. Unlike all of her friends, she actually _enjoyed _taking time to think and reflect about things. Sometimes, it was necessary to take a moment to look around and realize where you were in life and reflect on where you wanted to be.

She found it very calming, actually.

Sure, it was during this time—as Katie liked to point out—that she often tuned out to the rest of the world and began to realize the many problems she had that she never noticed before, but was there a point to living in "the moment" if you never gained anything from it and just kept skipping through life on stepping-stone moments?

The morning sun had finally broken through the cold haze and she was basking in the glow of fresh sunshine. She turned her head when she heard the sound of the portrait swinging open. George had clearly just gone to the kitchen, as he had a large brownie in hand.

"You're up early." Alicia commented.

"Couldn't sleep with Fred talking in his sleep about you." George flopped down on the couch in the middle of the common room, and propped his feet on the table.

Alicia crossed the room over the couch. "What did he say?"

George started flicking the walnuts off his brownie. "Who puts walnuts in brownies?" He said to no one in particular, showering the floor with walnut bits, and grinning as Alicia playfully kicked him for not answering his question. "Do you really expect me to memorize the nonsensical ramblings of my brother's sleep talk?"

"I think it's cute." Alicia said, sitting on top of the couch and kicking him again. "You just hate any form of love."

"That's an odd way to characterize sleep talking." George took a large bite of his brownie.

"My point exactly: you hate love." Alicia said, shaking her head disapprovingly. "Do you really think you'll never fall in love?"

"It's the _morning._I don't know anything." George said, as if this were obvious.

Alicia and Angelina—both having half-magical families familiar with the Weasleys—had known Fred and George their whole lives, and ever since word of fairytales made its way over to the twins, George had proclaimed he was never falling in love. So far, it was proving to be true, as he showed no interest in relationships, or even dating, for that matter. He only flirted noncommittally when he was bored.

"I think its sad." Alicia reached over and took half of his brownie. She meant to say that everyone should find love, but the words got mixed up. Not that George needed a translation, he understood her just fine. "Do you want to? Believe in love?"

"I believe in love." George said, causing her brain to run in circles. "It's being _in _love that I don't care for."

Alicia found it interesting he made such a distinction, because for her there wasn't one. But either way, she still found it both sad and childish for him to hope he never fell in love. "You're sure?"

"As sure as I am that fairytales aren't real, Goldilocks." He grinned and she scowled at the use of her childhood nickname. When they were little they all had silly nicknames for each other that were now resurrected only for the purpose of annoying each other and for use in ironic situations such as this.

"Cynical hater."

"Delusional lover."

_"Why _are you so hostile towards the simple concept of love?"

George shrugged. "And showing up to A History of Magic, following the rules, being nice, listening to my mother, matching my socks… well, it seems I just lack the common sense—who wants to be ordinary?" Alicia couldn't help but laugh. George continued, "So now that we've covered how sad it is that I'll never love anyone and will consequently be breaking many hearts," Alicia rolled her eyes. "Why are _you _up this early?"

"That's not important." Alicia said pointedly, the expression on her face giving her away.

"_Right. _And I'm Snape's model student." George smirked.

Alicia shoved him, in an attempt to rid his face of the smugness. "It's not a big deal. It's just that I saw Katie and Fred down here after he left my dorm in the middle of the night and bothered me a little—not that you care."

George put his arm around her shoulder. "I care." He smiled. "You know, the funny thing about delusions is that sometimes they're more important than the truth." He winked at her as if to say _think about that_, and then left to go back to sleep.

It took her another hour of staring out the window to completely understand what he said. She realized that his words were meant to be both a subtle compromise to their conflicting ideas and his way of telling her that she was going to be okay. It was just what she needed.

* * *

Saturday night Lee and Elaina returned from Hogsmeade just as the gates were about to close. Filch growled at them about needing to be on time and stabbed Lee unnecessarily hard with the Secrecy Sensor, but Lee didn't mind. His heart was soaring as it always did when he was with Elaina. Besides, he supposed it wasn't a pleasant job to have to oversee the traffic in and out of the castle all day.

"Sorry." He said, wincing as the Secrecy Sensor was sharply jabbed into his side.

"We'll be on time next week." Elaina added with a smile.

Mrs. Norris hissed at them as they made their way back to the common room. He took her hand in his and she squeezed his hand. Her presence always made him feel at peace. She didn't have to say anything to let him know how she felt, and he didn't have to say anything to let her know what he was thinking. There was an unspoken communication between them.

When they reached the top of the stairs where they were to part ways to their respective dorms, he leaned forward and kissed her, slow and sweet. She smiled when they pulled apart and kissed him again. "I had a great time today." She said, holding both of his hands.

"I love being with you." Lee murmured. He loved how he could be completely honest to her. There was nothing to hide. Nothing to hint at.

Elaina put his hand on his chest, her palm resting against the scarf he was wearing—the one she gave him. "I love _you_." She wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. They were about the same height and she liked that. "See you tomorrow morning. Sweet dreams." She smiled at him before disappearing into her dorm.

Lee smiled to himself for a moment before the sound of someone coming up the stairs interrupted him. Lee turned to see Angelina at the top of the stairs. He didn't know what to feel.

The two of them had reached an unspoken consensus about their relationship that was based on a single fear: The loss of their friendship. The Saturday dates and Sunday dates ensured that for the rest of the week they could hint at whatever they wanted, but that by the end of the week they needed to snap out of it. It turned into a cyclical pattern that they weren't sure who was going to break.

And now he was going to break it. "Angelina…" Her name felt like a foreign word on the tip of his tongue.

Angelina walked towards him slowly. When she walked her hips swayed and her feet always seemed to place themselves with a purposeful sort of grace. "Lee…" She said softly.

She took one last step towards him and the fading sunlight behind her created an ironic halo. He noted in a detached way, how beautiful she was. Each stand of her glossy hair was perfectly in place and tied up in a high ponytail away from her face. Every feature on her face was perfect and exquisite, from her large almond-shaped eyes to her luscious lips to her heart-shaped face.

There was something magical about her. When she looked at him he felt what every other guy felt when she looked at him—a deep magnetic pull deep in his chest that compelled him towards her. Although her eyes were devoid of emotion as she looked at him, he knew that somewhere, deep down, she felt _something_—maybe not towards him, maybe not anything that he could ever guess, but she had to feel _something_, even if she never let anyone see it—and right now, that was all he wanted of her.

To feel something.

Because in a way, he felt bad for her. He didn't know why she did the things she did. He had no idea what could have driven a girl who was once radiant with laughter, filled with notions of fairytale love, brimming with _life _and _happiness_to become the person before him. But he had tried. He had tried so hard to understand her and to be there for her, and all he had done was get him tangled up inside the self-destructive web she wove.

That's exactly what she was: self-destructive.

She had created a new person to be and had refused to go back to who she really was, even though they all fought and pleaded and wished. She had stopped letting herself be close to anyone. She had build walls around her so that no one would ever see or understand how she felt. Her emotions, her feelings, her thoughts were all locked up so that when he tried to find his way in she locked him inside. And now she didn't want to let him out.

"I can't do this anymore." His voice sounded like it wasn't his own.

Angelina was standing so close to him that he could feel her breath on his neck, that she could feel his pulse like it was her own, that he could count her eyelashes. So close that she could have kissed him if she wanted to.

But she didn't.

She leaned forward until he could feel the curve of her lips on his through the lilluputian space that separated them. He breathed in when she breathed out and it felt like they belonged together—but they didn't. She tilted her head and leaned forward until her lips almost touched his ear. Her words were barely whispered and so unexpected that he had to wonder if she had said them at all.

"I won't ask you to."

* * *

Katie tapped the quill against her paper and sighed. "I'm going to fail that potions test."

Oliver pulled the page closer to him so he could read her writing. "Don't worry, you'll be fine." Although, upon looking at her notes he realized she was probably screwed. She had half a page of notes in messy scrawl for a double period's worth of lessons and some random doodles and couplets at the bottom of the paper.

Katie laughed. "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"Maybe." Oliver put his arm around her and grinned. "If I'd known you were this awful at potions I would have brought you my old notes."

She sighed again. "Oh well." Katie put her notes in her book and closed it. "That can't be helped now. I'm a lost case." She smiled at him. "I might as well just enjoy my weekend instead."

"You know I admire you sometimes." Oliver mused, leaning back.

Katie rested her head on his shoulder. "What's to admire about me?"

Oliver studied her. He had nice golden amber eyes. "You know how to live in the moment, but at the same time you never give up."

Katie smiled. In her opinion, having a good attitude and a fun personality was the best way to enjoy life. Maybe it was because she wasn't very smart or very pretty. But she did know how to have fun, how to enjoy the moment and be grateful for what she had. However, as many of her professors liked to point out, you could just live for the present without any concern for the future. "Well, I admire you." Katie said, truthfully.

"Why?" Oliver asked, seeming genuinely surprised she would say so.

"Because you're determined and principled and hardworking and able to accomplish things," Katie said, "It's something I've never been able to say about myself."

"It's not always a good thing." Oliver murmured, looking distantly at a spot on the wall across the room. "You know that." He said, looking at her, finally.

Katie took his hand and squeezed it. "You're just too much of a good thing."

They smiled at each other. Katie realized that in a way, they were attracted to each other because of how different they were. She needed someone to tie her down and he needed someone to set him free. They were on opposite sides of the spectrum—too much of one thing and not the other—but together it was perfect.

"I guess we are." Oliver said, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace. His arms were so strong, but he always held her gently. She always felt safe in his arms.

Katie rested her head on his chest. His muscles were quivering slightly and she absently wondered if he had done another one of his intense workouts. The truth? His body was shutting down again in response to the absence of various minerals and toxins. There was a dull ache throbbing in his body and a chill was seeping into his veins. But she didn't know that, as she worried that he was working out too hard.

_He's going to burn out like a falling star. _

When he let go he seemed a bit distant; she thought maybe he was reflecting—something she hated doing. Truth was, he was breathing broken glass and white hot embers.

Katie had curled up in his bed. "You okay?"

"Yeah, fine." He said distractedly, but he winced slightly.

"You sure?" Katie sat up and looked at him with concern. "Your eyes are turning red." She said slowly.

It might have explained why his vision was tinged with red. His eyes were darting back and forth slightly but rapidly as his line of vision sloped downward. And the pain—that _horrible_ pain was settling in. Nevermind that aching, he was _burning_. And his head was splitting open—something was crushing him, breaking him. He pressed his hand to his forehead. His hand burned.

_It's going to be alright. You're going to be fine. Just keep holding on. Forget about the pain. You're strong enough to handle this. Don't. Let. Go._

**You need it. It will make you a better player. You can be great. This will make you strong, nothing else matters. You. Need. This.**

Do it for her. She believes in you. She loves you, and you love her, of course you do. You couldn't hurt her. You. Love. Her.

"Oliver?" Katie grabbed his arm.

"I'm fine, I've just got a really bad headache." He looked up at her. His vision was blotted with red and she seemed to be floating farther and farther away. "It happens when I don't sleep enough." His voice sounded distant. "I'm fine."

Katie looked worried. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Well, okay." Katie didn't look very convinced. "I'll let you get some sleep." She grabbed her book. "I hope you feel better tomorrow." She kissed him on the cheek.

"Okay…" The pain was twisting its way through him. He hardly heard her say goodnight and barely held on long enough for her to close the door behind her before collapsing entirely.

* * *

By dawn, Angelina had already slept with and abandoned Simon Crowe, contemplated drowning herself in the bathtub but decided it wasn't an attractive way to die, and finished her entire beauty routine. She made her way back to the Gryffindor common room, but couldn't bring herself to walk up the stairs and up to her bed. Although she was tired from functioning on three hours of sleep a night (yes, she knew it was her own fault), she sank into one of the couches in front of the fire and buried her face in her hands.

She felt like she had dug herself into a deep hole and could no longer the light of day to find her way back. This whole ordeal with Blaine was tiring. It was always on and off—they found ways to ambush each other and then shrank back into the shadows at random intervals. On one hand she knew better than to get involved with someone so dangerous, but on the other hand she could never just sit back and wait for someone else to help her because there _was _no one else. And yes, she supposed she always had a choice as to what she did and what she said, but that choice had been taken away a while ago.

Why?

Well, hopefully no one would ever figure that out. That would be a secret that was buried with the Angelina that she once was. The half-pretty but not gorgeous, sort of smart but not brilliant, talented but going nowhere Angelina. The naïve and simple girl who was George Weasley's best friend and believed in true love. The girl who no longer existed except in memories too painful for those who remembered to relive.

"Alright Princess?"

Angelina wanted to bang her head on the fireplace or maybe just jump into the fire itself. George leaned against the couch. "Just reeling over Simon Crowe's fabulous sex skills." She said sarcastically.

George laughed coldly. "_Fabulous _night, I'm sure." His voice dripped with mockery.

"What are you doing awake? Lamenting the pointlessness of your existence?" She probably could have thought of something better to say had she cared, but it was dawn, she was tired—bordering on suicidal.

"Wreaking havoc on the castle, actually. It's more fun than dabbling into existentialism." George replied. Angelina could tell it was a lie, but she was too tired to really call him out on it.

The truth was, ever since Ginny had been abducted into the Chamber of Secrets by You-Know-Who himself, she had nightmares and tonight she had shown up at his dorm crying. It had taken him a while to calm her down and get her back to sleep. For George, the war had solidified itself when his sister had been nearly killed as bait. But for now the war would be another story altogether.

Angelina picked at a frayed thread in the couch while trying to think of something to say. "And I suppose that wasn't fun enough, you want a shot at me?" She said condescendingly.

George shrugged. "You make it too easy."

"I doubt you'd get close enough to even attempt." Angelina viciously pulled at the red thread in the couch. The chair squeaked out an indignant _ouch!_

"I'd say I've been quite successful, actually." George smirked.

Angelina weighed her options of tossing and turning in her bed all night, or staying here in the empty common room arguing with George until Percy came down to yell at them for being awake after curfew. "Well that's not quite for you to say is it?"

"I don't need you to say it to know its true, Princess."

She contemplated whether it was possible to smother herself with a pillow, and if so, whether that would be better than smothering George (if that was possible). The sound of crinkling paper brought her back to reality. George had taken a piece of parchment out of his pocket and unfolded it. It was blank, but that was the point. She stared ahead, hoping that it didn't mean what she thought it meant.

"Do you remember back when Charlie was home, that summer when he and his girlfriend sent secret letters to each other?" George said conversationally, turning the paper in his hand. "We tried everything we could to try and reveal the invisible ink." He continued nonchalantly as Angelina glared at the paper, wishing now that she had just gone back to her dorm. "But it wasn't the ink, it was the paper that concealed the words." He pulled out his wand, twirled it in his fingers, and wordlessly cast the Aguamenti Charm, soaking the paper. "You had to get the paper wet, and then set it on fire." He flicked his wand at the fireplace and the soaking parchment flew into the fire and then zoomed back.

The parchment was floating in front of Angelina's face. She watched as the flames disappeared, leaving the paper black and the words white. _It never ends, does it?_

Angelina involuntarily gasped. She like someone had poured gravel down her throat. _How the hell did he know? How_?

"I guess I just know you so well, Princess." She felt George's presence disappear as he left the common room and went back to his dorm.

She waited until she heard the door close before she ran into her dorm, pulled up the loose floorboard by Alicia's bed, and took out the red leather-bound journal. She flipped it open and found that the pages were still perfectly white and the words were still invisible. He hadn't read anything. Angelina hastily shoved the journal back in place and paced the room angrily, her mind rattling with frustration.

_He didn't read anything. The pages are still white. He didn't read anything. George was just being a jerk as always. He didn't read anything._

So how the fuck did he know the very first words written inside the journal?

* * *

Sunday morning Katie was flipping madly through her potions textbook as she scarfed down her breakfast.

"I don't get how you manage to eat like a starving hippogriff and still be that skinny." Angelina commented. She was eating her usual apple sliced into eight with two spoonfuls of peanut butter, and a scrambled egg (no salt).

"I've got the body of a twelve year old boy. The least the universe could do for me was give me the metabolism of a twelve year old boy." Katie said, her eyes scanning down the page quickly.

Angelina nodded as if this were a perfectly fine response to her comment. Alicia gave her a pointed look. "You do not have the body of a twelve year old boy."

Katie shrugged, keeping her eyes on the book as she flipped the page. She didn't particularly care about her body shape or Angelina's blunt honesty. Right now she was a girl on a mission. Because as much as she hated to dwell on things, last night had made for three instances of odd behavior on Oliver's part, and while she wasn't the brightest, she wasn't stupid enough to not atleast _wonder _what was going on.

When she saw what she was looking for she stood up suddenly, knocking over a pitcher of ice water all over the table. "I found it!" She said, without even realizing that she was thinking out loud. She held the book closer to her face to make sure that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. No, they weren't. There, on the top of the page above the title of the chapter (_Properties of Dragon Blood)_, was a picture of a tiny glass filled with black liquid that sparkled.

"Found what?" Alicia said, pulling out her wand to fix the mess Katie had made.

"What is this?" Katie leaned across the table and shoved the book in Fred's face.

Fred gave her a funny look. "Why do you need to know?"

George and Lee leaned over to see what the picture was and suddenly seemed uneasy. Angelina pulled the book from Katie's hand so that she and Alicia could take a look. From their expressions, they didn't seem very happy either. "Why does it matter? What is it?" Katie persisted.

"It matters." Alicia said, her tone serious.

Katie looked at her friends curiously and, realizing that none of her friends looked like they were about to talk anytime soon, turned to Angelina, the most likely person not to know good from bad. "What is it?"

Angelina gave her a steely look. "It's bane."

* * *

_**Personally, this was not my favorite chapter, but everything's about to get more exciting. Next chapter there's going to be some serious D-R-A-M-A because that's what I love :D **_

**_So please, if you'd like to know what happens or even if you think this is a boring story, review!_**


	7. Remembering

_**So sorry that this was a really long wait, but I'm probably not going to be able to update as frequently since school has started. But I love this story so much that I promise I'll never abandon it (unless people stop reviewing...)**_

**_Thank you to Merci, Lalabugg, Written Sparks, MadCatta, Ghee Buttersnaps15, and 1hellyeahz1 for reviews :)_**

**_I really really appreciate them and take your comments/criticisms seriously. And with that, enjoy!_**

* * *

The front courtyard was admittedly not the best place to be when ditching Divination, but this was not the thought that crossed Katie's mind when she walked by a window on her way to Trawlewney's attic and saw what a beautiful day it was outside.

Ten minutes later, she had retraced all her steps and was running out the front entrance of the castle, her hair and scarf flying behind her as she stepped out into the wintry sunshine and breathed in the delightfully cold air. She dropped her books and purse on the grass and twirled around amidst the falling snowflakes. In a few minutes her fingers would be numb and her cheeks would be rosy from the cold, but Katie danced in the snow just as happily as she would dance in the rain.

She tilted her head back as she twirled around like a ballerina and looked up at the sky, watching the individual snowflakes fall. It was only lightly snowing and she liked the feeling of the snow on her face. Everything looked so beautiful, covered in the sparkling snow. Birds were chirping and settling in the pine trees nearby and Katie wanted to just lose herself in the moment.

"You cold?"

She turned to see Oliver walking towards her. His hands were in the pockets of his jeans and he was wearing a Puddlemere United sweatshirt. "Not really." But a sudden chill went down her spine and made her shiver involuntarily.

"You sure?" Oliver took her hand. His was warm and hers was cold.

"Yeah." Katie started walking around the fountain they were standing before.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" Oliver walked beside her.

"I suppose." She suddenly turned to face him. "Are you okay?" He looked puzzled. "I hope you feel better than you did last night." She continued.

Last night was a gaping hole in his memory. "Uh… from what?" Oliver said, realizing the awkwardness of the situation.

She looked at him curiously, as if seeing him for the first time. "It takes away your memory, doesn't it?"

"What does?" He tried to look thoroughly confused.

"Now I know that it doesn't make you _stupid_." There was definitely an edge to her voice. "The Potions book doesn't say a whole lot about bane, but I get the gist of it."

_Fuck._

Oliver stumbled backwards. He ran his hand through his hair, messing it up even more than it already was, and closed his eyes in frustration. He swore under his breath and sat down on the fountain, sinking his face into his hands.

"So it's true then." Katie's voice floated softly into his head as she sat down beside him on the fountain, looking not at him, but at her hands folded in her lap in a very prim and un-Katie-like way.

He swallowed hard. There was a pain in his chest different than anything he had ever felt before. "I'm sorry." He managed to choke out.

"Me too." Katie said, her voice sounding thin and broken. He made the mistake of looking at her, and felt his heart ache. She wasn't crying or screaming at him; she didn't seem angry or vindictive and he wished she did. But the sadness in her eyes made Oliver hate himself more than he already did.

"Katie…" He didn't know what to say or do. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and apologize profusely and promise he was going to stop, but he knew he couldn't. Would she flinch if he touched her? Walk away if he started making excuses? Believe him if he made promises? Shouldn't she?

"I think you need to start explaining." She said, offering him a chance he didn't deserve.

Because what was he supposed to say? That he didn't do it on purpose? Because he had, in fact. He just hadn't meant for it to get out of control. He didn't know that thirty-six hour intervals would become twenty-four hours, then twelve. He didn't know that it would literally take over him, so that if he tried to fight it, the pain would force him to stop.

"I wanted to be better at Quidditch." He wasn't sure where to start, except at the beginning. "It made me stronger, faster, smarter. And then it started making me impulsive and I'd say or do things that I normally wouldn't. So I tried to stop, I tried to fight it. But I ended up needing it more. Whenever it left my body I'd start to forget thing that happened, I'd start acting _crazy_, and then there was this pain— like my brain was on fire, like I was melting from the inside out, my vision would—"

Katie stood up suddenly. "That's enough." She felt like she was going to be sick, listening to this.

Oliver grabbed her arm desperately. She flinched. "I need you to believe me." His voice was raw and filled with pain. As scared and hurt as she was, Katie turned to look at him and saw that there was pain in his eyes as well. Something about him seemed so vulnerable that she knew his pain and regret were real.

She gently removed his hand from her arm. "Why?"

Oliver's arms hung limply at his sides. "Because I think you can help me." He sounded so defeated and lost.

Katie picked up her books and her purse. "I don't know." She didn't look at him.

"Katie," His voice sounded like a plea for help. "I need you." She could see in the desperation in his eyes. This was real.

"I'll think about it." She said, slinging the strap of her purse over her shoulder and turning to leave.

But Katie Bell doesn't _think. _She makes up her mind in the moment the question is asked, or in the moment an answer is demanded. And in this case, her mind was already made up.

* * *

"I'm serious Elaina, I _can't _ice skate." Lee insisted. "I severely lack any balance or coordination skills whatsoever."

"I'll teach you! It's fun." Elaina was staring longingly out the window to the now-frozen lake. It was snowing lightly outside, the sky was blue, and the sun was shining.

Lee leaned back on the couch. "You know that is _exactly _what Fred and George said when they tried to teach me Quidditch, and then ended up dragging me to the hospital wing for crashing into the Whomping Willow."

Elaina rolled her eyes, but smiled. "You were probably, what, eleven? I'm _sure _nothing of such cataclysmic proportions will befall us."

Lee raised his eyebrows as if to say, _well, you never really know when it comes to hopeless cases like me. _"Cataclysmic proportions…" He repeated. "I like that. I promise you that a disaster of at least _epic_, if not cataclysmic proportions to ruin the day if I attempt ice skating."

"An _epic _disaster." Elaina grinned at him. "That sounds fun, actually."

"No, it's not!" Lee insisted.

"Oh come on! It's a beautiful day and I think I'd rather have an epic-ly disastrous adventure than waste the day." Elaina fixed him with her lively eyes. "Please?" She smiled, filling the room with light.

And once she smiled, Lee couldn't help but feel elated. "I don't have any skates." He said with a smile, finally, by way of surrender.

Elaina brightened even more. "What size are you?"

"Thirteen."

"Perfect! You'll fit my brother's. I'll grab them and be right down." She threw her arms around him and then practically skipped up the stairs.

Five minutes later she'd grabbed her brother's hockey skates from his dorm, retrieved her own, and was back down in the common room, where Lee was still making excuses about how horrible he was going to be at ice skating. She just laughed—his excuses were getting ridiculously outrageous—and he was laughing too as he took her hand as they left the common room.

"What if, being an unexperienced ice-skater, I skate over thin ice, fall into the lake, and drag you in with me? Hypothermia is not fun." Lee was pretending to look serious, but it really wasn't working, because it was difficult not to smile when he was around Elaina.

"We'll still be together!" Elaina chirped, leaning against him and smiling, as they stepped out of the castle.

"I wonder what the squid does when the lake gets frozen over." Lee finally changed the subject.

"Ha, you're out of excuses!" Elaina said triumphantly.

Lee sighed, with a broad smile. "Oh well, I guess I'm just stuck with you all afternoon." He slipped his arm around her shoulders and drew her close.

They laced up their skates and stepped onto the lake. The ice was slightly opaque, and the blue lake waters could be seen through the ice, and as the sun reflected off the glassy surface, Elaina couldn't help but note how beautiful it was. She grabbed Lee's hands. "Ice skating's easy, you'll love it."

"You really can't accept the fact that I'm athletically challenged, huh?" Lee was pretty sure, as he stepped onto the slick ice, that he would last exactly thirty seconds on the ice before some catastrophic accident caused by his own clumsiness and lack of coordination occurred.

"Nope!" Elaina started skating backwards, holding his hands.

She showed him how to skate, how to push off one skate and glide on the ice. He couldn't help but be entranced by her gracefulness as she demonstrated. It looked so simple when she did it, as she skated in a circle, and with a gentle spin, stopped in front of him. He knew he was awful at anything involving the coordination of his limbs, but he attempted anyways, because it made Elaina happy and there didn't seem to be a limit to how bright her smile could be.

"See, you're not _that _athletically challenged." Elaina remarked with a grin as they finally managed to skate once around the lake without any major falls.

Lee just smiled. "It's only been ten minutes, you just wait."

"We've got all day." Elaina grabbed his hands and started spinning so that the two of them were turning in a circle together.

Elaina loved how ice skating felt like dancing on the ice. She tried to see if she and Lee could pull it off, but the closest they got to was her spinning out as she held onto his hand, and then spinning back into his arms. Lee really _was _seriously uncoordinated, not that she cared though, she was never one for the brawny athletic guys—she preferred someone with a heart.

Lee watched as she showed off the various tricks and techniques she'd learned. Elaina could have been a competition skater, with all the graceful spins and precise jumps that she managed with complete accuracy, landing on the edge of her skate perfectly every time. Her body was lithe and graceful as it turned through the air, her hair and scarf flying in a blur of colors. She finished her sequence with a smile and grabbed his hands to spin them around again.

"Isn't this fun?" She laughed, the melodic sound ringing in the air.

"Yeah, it is." Lee was really enjoying himself. He always loved spending time with Elaina, and she always amazed him with her grace and the way she lit up everything she saw and touched.

"And you were worried about apocalyptic calamities." Elaina teased, as they stopped spinning. She smiled and tilted her head up so that snow flakes fell on her face. Lee couldn't help but stare. Her chestnut-brown hair tumbled down her shoulders in layers of silky waves and her deep brown eyes were always sparkling to the brim with joy. Her hair was messy now and there were snowflakes in her eyelashes and her smile was slightly off center, but she was perfect. Elaina was not as pretty as she was cute, and Lee loved that.

He slipped his arm around her shoulders. She stopped gliding and smiled widely at him—her liveliness brighter than any star. "You're right." Lee murmured. "Nothing can go wrong when I'm with you." Elaina seemed to shine even brighter as she blushed. She only wished she knew what to say. He didn't say anything more, as he drew her close and looked into her eyes. Her heart was racing inside her chest and she could feel herself blushing even more. "Elaina, I—"

"_Aaaaaaaagghhhhh!" _

There was a great splintering and shattering sound as several large pink tentacles shot out from beneath the surface of the ice, splitting the entire sheet of ice into shards and sending Lee and Elaina falling into the cold waters. The giant squid poked its head above the surface of the lake, and then retracted its tentacles—which hit the edges of the lake, breaking off even more ice. The fissures in the ice traveled in a convoluted web across the whole surface of the ice, breaking it into fragments. Lee and Elaina ducked under the water to avoid getting hit by ice shards. Then, just as quickly as the squid had appeared, it disappeared back under the depths of the water.

"S-so I g-guess that's w-what happens t-to the squid d-d-during the winter." Elaina remarked, her teeth chattering, because she was emerged neck deep in freezing cold water.

Lee tried to smile, even though his lips were turning blue. "I m-m-mentioned the p-possibility of a d-d-disastrous debacle, right?"

Elaina nodded vigorously, her neck feeling completely numb. "Th-this d-d-definitely q-qualifies as-as an ep-epic d-d-disaster."

Lee could feel his muscles starting to ache from the piercingly cold water and looked over with concern at Elaina, whose lips were blue, and shaking violently. "L-let's g-g-get out." He grabbed her hand, it felt like he was holding ice, and started swimming over to the edge of the lake—the ice was now completely shattered and there was nothing to hold onto.

Clearly, Lee shouldn't have joked about hypothermia, as he tried to swim his way through a sub-frozen lake. His muscles felt like they were frozen in place and all but refused to function. The water was like a thousand tiny icicles stabbing him with its chilling coldness. He felt like a stone statue, for all he could do movement and thought-wise.

The giant squid seemed to take pity on them (or perhaps it felt bad for ruining their moment), and finally wrapped a thick tentacles around the two of them and tossed them gently onto the snowy banks of the lake, where Lee and Elaina were so drained of strength that they could barely move, and just lay there waiting for the sun to defrost them.

* * *

Angelina breezed into her dorm. "Alicia, can I ask for a favor?"

Alicia set down her hairbrush in front of the vanity and turned to face her. "What do you need?" She asked. The part of her who had known Angelina all her life would do anything for her, but the part of her that was weary of who she had become was a bit apprehensive.

From the pocket of her jacket Angelina withdrew a small vial filled with Polyjuice. "I need you to take this tonight and stay in the hospital wing overnight as me."

"This has to do with that whole thing with Blaine, doesn't it?" Alicia studied Angelina for a moment.

Angelina just smiled. "Yes. So, it's best you don't tell anyone."

"Of course." Alicia murmured, staring at the pattern of wood grain on the vanity. It was situations like these when she wished she were strong—strong enough to say no to Angelina, strong enough to show her why this wasn't right, strong enough to fix everything that was wrong for Angelina. "Angeli— what is that?"

Angelina set down a glass of water. She had just swallowed two yellow pills. "Morphisine." She answered.

And this was the moment when Alicia was supposed to know how to talk Angelina out of her crazy plans—which, apparently involved taking painkillers before executing what was likely to be a dangerous and convoluted plan that she already had a planned alibi for. Normally, Alicia was adept at the art of persuasion, but Angelina was one of those people who could not be swayed—when she wanted something you couldn't stop her if she was strapped to a Filibuster.

Alicia chewed her lip. "What do you need that for?" More importantly, she wondered how Angelina even knew what morphisine _was. _Alicia's Healing class had glossed over it as a medical painkiller that dulled all senses.

Not that Angelina needed help feeling nothing.

"Do you really want to know?" Angelina smiled angelically, walking over to the vanity and checking her reflection.

Alicia swallowed hard and chose her words carefully. Blaine was a subject that everyone tiptoed around and never outright asked about. "This whole ordeal with Blaine… if no one knows about it—and no one does, right?—then why do you two go through so much trouble to get revenge on each other?"

There was no answer from Angelina, who was fixing her mascara. Alicia had clearly crossed an unspoken line: no one asks questions about Angelina and her guys. George did, but the rest of them dutifully kept their mouths shut about the topic. They ignored Angelina when random hot guys came up to her at breakfast and started making out with her, pretended it was absolutely okay with them that Angelina slept with someone every night but never even stayed long enough for them to wake up, and most of all, they treated Angelina and George's fights as background noise. Because the implications of his words were not allowed.

Alicia played with the hem of her shirt. "Has he ever hurt you?" She asked; seeing as she had already crossed the line, she might as well just throw herself over the deep end with another forbidden question.

Angelina took off her necklace and raised her eyebrows at Alicia. "Well, let's see, have I _ever _been to the hospital wing for mysterious injuries?" She said scathingly, her eyes glaring into Alicia's.

Alicia stared down at her feet and studied the cuff of her jeans. Angelina didn't like hospitals. She never said why, and it was another thing no one was allowed to ask her, but Angelina hated hospitals and blatantly refused to go to the hospital wing. "That doesn't answer the question." Alicia muttered, because she knew Angelina's tricks.

"You never answered my question either. Will you do me that favor?" Angelina looked at the necklace in her hand and put it back on.

Alicia crossed over to the vanity, standing tentatively next to Angelina. They were mirror images of each other. Alicia light where Angelina was dark; pearly glow and dark beauty, sparkling eyes and piercing stare, reason in her mind and poison in her veins, fresh-faced halo-crowned clean and temptress-that-adulterated-you dirty. Alicia was a freaking angel and Angelina had been sent from hell.

"Is this ever going stop?" Alicia asked.

"Is _what _ever going to stop?" Angelina's voice was harsh.

_Everything. We'll press pause and rewind to three years ago. We'll all say I love you and I'm sorry. _"This." Alicia said, with the voice of someone who was already giving up before she woke up from the nightmare.

Angelina's eyes were steely and cold, raining down on Alicia's glittering daydream. "No."

"Why?" Alicia stared at the reflection of Angelina, which had once mirrored hers in a very different way.

"Because I'm a stupid bitch who picks all the wrong fights." Angelina said venomously, turning on her heel towards the door.

"Angelina!" Alicia said desperately, following. "I'll do it!"She grabbed Angelina's hand to stop her. "I'm sorry." She said, wincing as Angelina turned around, fierce rage in her eyes. They didn't talk about the past. They thought about it, but they didn't talk about it. "You're my best friend, Angelina, I'll do anything you need me to." Alicia heard the pleading in her own voice, as she begged for Angelina not to be angry because then she would drift further away. "Just talk to me. Talk to Lee, talk to Fred, or even go fight with George, just talk to us."

The piercing flash of Angelina's eyes as they accused her felt like lightning. "Talk to _you_." She repeated coldly. "Because you would listen, wouldn't you?" She said bitingly, throwing age-old memories back into Alicia's face, and turning on her heel to leave. She hadn't exactly forgiven Alicia for her old crimes.

"Angelina—" But she was walking out the door. "Angelina, please, we're here _now_—we're listening—Angelina!" Alicia followed her down the stairs. "That was _my _fault, Ange, don't take it out on yourself by doing this, please, _please, _Ange." People in the common room were staring. Fred and George looked up from their game of Exploding Snap. Lee and Elaina had stopped laughing. Katie still had her quill poised in mid-air. "Ange! I will listen, I promise, I'll be here this time. _All _of us. We're best friends, remember, no matter what happens—I'm sorry!" She grabbed Angelina's wrist. "_Please._"

Angelina whirled around. "_Best _friends? You just want to talk?" Her expression was livid. "Are we being _funny_ now? Well now let's make it fucking _hilarious _and pretend we're six and eating cake off our faces, or maybe let's be eight and dance around with flowers growing out of our fingertips—"

"Ange—"

Angelina continued over her. "Or better yet let's go back to being twelve and thirteen, pretend I'm not _fucked up _and that you care." Alicia swallowed back tears. "Aren't you laughing yet? Aren't we just hysterical?" Her voice was low and had a threatening element to it.

"Angelina, I—"

The portrait door slammed in her face.

Alicia stared at the portrait, tears burning her throat. She could feel the eyes of everyone staring at her and she could feel her whole body turn rigid as if her muscles had all atrophied, and the only part of her that seemed able to function in any way were her tear ducts, as they burned and threatened to spill an ocean from her eyes.

"Alicia," Fred put his hands on her shoulders, which were shaking.

But she didn't want to be comforted, because she didn't deserve that—Angelina was right. Alicia wrenched the portrait door open and headed down the hall.

"Alicia!" Fred ran after her, as she turned the corner on a familiar passage and continued through a labyrinth of stairs, corridors, and doors. Fred grabbed her hand, but rather than stop her, his steps fell in time with hers. He squeezed her hand and pushed open the entrance to the secret passage that Alicia had been heading for.

Inside it was almost pitch black, with only a dim glow that seemed to come from Fred and Alicia themselves, as they all but stumbled down the path that had never managed to become familiar. Alicia found herself walking faster as the door clanged shut behind them, and broke into a run completely, unsure how her legs managed not to get tangled up or how she managed not to run into a wall. She wanted to forget about that day—that horrible day three years ago—but she couldn't because that would mean accepting what they had done and _that was not okay. _She wanted to run away from it all, but she couldn't because she knew that was cowardly and she knew that she could do better than that—she should be stronger and smarter—after all, she is the one with straight O's and the artist of pretty words.

Alicia stumbled along the corridor, one hand gripping Fred's tightly, the other grazing the wall as her legs moved of their own accord, taking her up a winding path in the darkness until finally, there came the faint outline of light ahead—a trapdoor. She fell against it, pushing the door open, as she landed on a cobble stone floor, taking Fred down with her. Cold wind whipped at her face and howled as it whistled through the storm clouds in the sky. The sky was dark grey and hail was falling steadily all around the Locked Tower of Hogwarts—so isolated from the rest of the castle that even the weather refused to cooperate with the rest of the castle.

Alicia was breathing heavily as the wind tried to blow her off the tower and hailstones slapped at her face. Fred was still on the ground beside her, his breath coming in clouds. "It was all my fault." She choked out.

"It was not your fault." Fred took both of her hands in his. "Listen to me, Alicia, it was not your fault that Angelina—"

"I didn't listen to her—"

Fred turned her to face him. "None of us did—"

Alicia was frantic. "I told her she was crazy—"

"She _was. _She was screaming and crying and bitching out at everyone—"

"It's my fault she hates George. I told him that—" She was crying now, her tear tracks turning to frost.

Fred took her face in his hands and looked right into her eyes. "George made that decision himself, not because of you, because—"

"No, I told him that—"

"_Alicia!" _Fred shook her by the shoulders. "It's not your fault!"

She stared wide-eyed at him for a moment. Then she buried her face in her hands and crumpled into his arms.

* * *

Fourteen hours.

Oliver stared at the handful of pills in his hand. Pain killers. Perfectly safe, perfectly legal, and probably useless. But then again, there was no harm in trying, was there?

Nothing could really make the pain burning through his body any worse. At this moment a knife in the chest would be far less painful, and probably preferable, if he had that courage.

The door to his dorm opened, but he didn't even look up to see who it was. He just sat there with a handful of pills while pain lacerated through his body, wishing that he could just run a knife through his heart and be done with it. But he wasn't brave enough for that. Because even though he couldn't go twelve hours without bane, and he was fighting a losing battle, and he was better off dead, he wanted so badly to live.

_I shouldn't be a Gryffindor. _

Someone sat down next to him, wrapped him in a tight embrace, and whispered, "I believe in you."

Oliver looked up—through his shifting and red-tinged vision—as Katie gave him a small smile. "Katie." He murmured.

Katie squeezed his hand. "You shouldn't ever fight alone." She gently rubbed his back. "Take those. They're safe. Maybe you'll feel better."

Oliver swallowed the whole handful of pills with half a glass of water. The pills left a cloyingly sweet taste in his mouth. "I wish I was strong enough just to not take it." He said, his voice thick.

"You're only human." Katie said softly, letting him rest his head on her shoulder. It must have looked odd that Oliver, who was muscled and much taller than Katie who was tiny and thin, was leaning on her.

And all he could think of to say (though he didn't), was that most people make mistakes on multiple choice test questions, on what date their appointments were, on other trivial things—and that was fine, _that _was human. The mistakes he made were out of flat out ignorance and stupidity, and probably selfishness. Yes, selfishness. Because he wanted to be better at Quidditch. Because he felt lost and wanted to have _something _to work towards. Because he didn't have the strength to just live with the pain, and he didn't have the strength to pick up a knife and ram it into his veins.

No, he didn't have any strength or courage, as he sat there, hardly able to bear the pain, hardly able to pick his head up—which was still throbbing— and murmur a pathetic apology to Katie.

* * *

George and Lee were laughing loudly, and apparently Katie was telling something funny, because they dissolved into loud bouts of laughter as she continued with her story, "And then Marcus Flint has the nerve to try and intervene, so I Jelly-jinxed him, except Leanne hexed him too, and he ended up sprouting green tentacles and fangs." Fred laughed. "And he tried to call me a Mudblood and all, but his fangs got in the way of that." Katie smiled proudly at the end of her story.

"Katie, you amaze me." George was grinning at her.

"Well, if you insist." Katie grinned back.

Fred leaned back against the couch cushion. "Hey, do you guys remember… about April of second year?"

Lee's smile faded, while Katie's seemed frozen to her face for a long moment as she stared at him. George looked quite unaffected by anything Fred said and picked a chocolate truffle off the plate on the table in front of them. "Sure." He said, popping the truffle into his mouth. "We turned thirteen and we trashed Snape's dungeon." Katie shuffled her feet and then glanced up. Her face brightened when she saw a group of girls enter the dorm room. When she saw her friend Leanne she jumped up from her seat on the couch and went to join the girls. Lee looked uneasy and got up to leave.

It was times like this that Fred was both grateful and annoyed by the ability to turn off the expression of emotion that he and his brother shared (though George used it more). Sometimes it was just easier not to visibly react—even if it did seem to make them seem cold.

"So what's up, bro?"

"What did Alicia tell you that day?" Although Fred had been telling Alicia that everything was going to be okay and that nothing had been her fault, he hadn't exactly known what Alicia had "told George", and apparently his brother hadn't felt the need to share.

George looked at his brother curiously. "I don't think you want to know."

Fred frowned. "Yes, I do."

George gave him alook that clearly warned him he didn't, and then repeated what Alicia had said that day in her exact words:_It's too hot to wear long-sleeved shirts._

_Just-turned thirteen-years-old George looked over at Alicia, who sat down by the fire next to him. She wrapped her arms around her knees and rocked back and forth, her eyes wide open with fear—not that George noticed, because by now he had turned back the Maurauders Map and was busy planning his next epic prank. _

_George soon forgot about what Alicia said and spent the rest of the day with Fred annoying Percy (though really, Percy needn't be that upset; they had only charmed all his clothes pink), then bothering Oliver Wood by hiding his play book and sassing him as he yelled at them while scavenging around the Gryffindor Tower, and then had great fun playing Tag with Lee and Fang (which Hagrid was not quite pleased about). By the time they were sent back up to their dorms by an extremely unhappy McGonagall for breaking curfew and misbehaving, it was past midnight._

_The next morning the boys were busy recalling their epic tale of getting yelled at by four people and being chased around the Forbidden Forest by Fang and describing in exaggerated detail just how much fun it was to watch Percy turn scarlet when Penelope Clearwater told him she liked his dyed-hot-pink Hogwarts uniform. _

_Katie, as always, hung onto every word, oohed and aahhed at all the right parts, and stared at them reverently with wide blue eyes— she was just a first year and highly heroized Lee and twins for being so daringly bold, and angelicized Alicia and Angelina, so much wiser and prettier than her plain and homely self. Alicia had also been listening closely, sometimes rolling her eyes when she knew they were exaggerating, and at other times unable to conceal a smile. _

_"Wow!" Katie was saying, as the boys beamed. They relished the wide-eyed awe and skittish-schoolgirl respect that Katie had for them. She was the innocence and vulnerability that made the boys feel strong and heroic that Ginny had never quite given them. "That's amazing!"_

_Fred threw his arm around Katie. "We are, aren't we?"_

_Katie grinned widely; even and especially then, she had a smile that made you feel as if you had painted the constellations in her sky. Fred wrapped his other arm around her, in a friendly embrace, and grinned back. "Katie Kate, you should've been there." Katie giggled and he rested his chin on her shoulder. _

_"Yeah!" Lee added excitedly. "Where were you yesterday?"_

_Alicia's smile faded and she busied herself with cutting her pancake into infinitesimal pieces._

_Katie didn't seem to hear him. Fred was grinning playfully as he refused to let go of her and held her fake-captive as she dissolved into loud giggling and tried to break free. She was really laughing too hard to fight with much of her weak strength and Fred cared too much to use any strength against her. "Aww come on, Katie Kate! Don't fight me."_

_From a few seats away several people hissed at them to be quiet. Fred let go of Katie, who giggled a bit more and then happily went back to her French toast._

_"Where were you yesterday?" George asked again._

_Alicia drummed her fingers nervously on the table.__For a moment the smile on Katie's face seemed frozen in place. Then she shrugged. "The library, I guess."_

_Fred and George grinned as if they had just caught her in an incriminating act. "Very funny Katie." George said. "You were in the library and Percy was swimming with the giant squid."_

_Katie giggled. "That _would_ be funny. Don't you think?"_

_"Exactly! Because it would _never_ happen. Where were you?" Fred pressed on- not because he was a control freak about the details of Katie's life, but because she was fun to tease and often said lots of cute and funny things when she was trying to be clever._

_Angelina, meanwhile, was turning her knife absently in her hand as she stared intently into random space._

_"You okay?" Lee asked. _

_"What?" Angelina stared apprehensively at the just about empty plate in front of her._

_"Are you okay?" Lee repeated. _

_"Fine." They were a question and answer that had been repeated thousands of times this last week._

_"Really Katie, where were you?"_

_Katie shrugged and said vaguely, "Somewhere. I don't remember."_

_"Sure you don't." George was starting to feel less entertained and more worried by Katie's cutesy dancing around questions. "What's going on?" _

_"Seriously Katie," Fred was catching on as well. Usually by now Katie had revealed to them the very boring answer to their hyped up questioning. _

_Katie shrugged again and smiled, but she seemed to sense their suspicion. Alicia looked from Katie to Fred and George to Angelina and Lee. Fred and George looked questioningly at her, and under their stare, Katie started fidgeting. Angelina and Lee and Alicia were watching her too.__ She smiled timidly at them, like a little girl who had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "I guess I had an adventure of my own." She said unconvincingly, though she was smiling._

_The wide-eyed look of fear was back in Alicia's eyes. She looked from Katie to George, who she nudged with her knee. She tried to communicate with him silently. Angelina's lips were pressed into a thin line. She gripped the handle of her knife so hard that it started to hurt. She dropped it with a loud clatter, that finally startled Katie into a sudden outburst of, "I don't know!" Katie started to shake and fidget. __"I don't know." She repeated, sounding scared. She started to shrink her body inward and stared at the pattern on the tablecloth. "I don't know." She glanced skittishly to the side._

_George followed her eyes and his own landed on Angelina._

_Fred frowned, as Katie started fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, her bangs falling over her face and her bony shoulders drawn inward. He wrapped his arms around her again. "It's okay. It doesn't matter." He said gently, pulling her close. It always hurt him to see Katie in any way upset. _

_Angelina hastily got up from her seat and walked briskly out the Great Hall. With a timid shove from Alicia, George got up and followed her. "What did you do?"_

_"I didn't do anything wrong." Angelina picked up her pace._

_"What did you say to Katie? What did you say to Alicia?"__Angelina turned onto an abandoned corridor and broke into a run. George ran after her. __"What happened? Why are Alicia and Katie freaking out? What did you do?"_

_"Stop asking questions!" Angelina fled down a flight of stairs, sprinted down the hallway, and past rows of classrooms. _

_"Then give me answers!" George was running after her and getting closer. He reached out and grabbed her shoulder.__Angelina screamed and twisted her body away. George felt now even more confused. This was unlike Angelina. _

_"Leave me alone, just leave me alone. I didn't do anything wrong, just let me go!" She was going to run into a dead end and she turned to find another path but George cut her off._

_"Then stop running!" George grabbed her wrist.__Angelina cried out in pain and wrenched her arm out of his grip. She felt like her skin was burning. George was standing, suddenly frozen in place, staring at her with shocking disbelief. Angelina stared at him with horror, at what he had just discovered. __George tasted something bitter in his mouth."What did you do, Princess?"_

_Angelina was shaking her head and screaming—_I didn't do anything wrong.

_George felt like someone had just submerged his heart into cold water. He swallowed down his fear. "Is_ this _why Katie's so upset? How could you, Princess? Why would you do this?_"

_Angelina backed up against the wall and kept saying over and over again, "I didn't do anything wrong." _

_"What happened, Princess?"_

_Angelina clutched her hands to her chest. "I didn't do anything wrong." She said pleadingly, as tears streamed down her cheeks.__George was at a loss for words, he reached out to take her hand, to let her know that it was okay, but she flinched and started to shake. "No, don't. Please. Just let me go." _

"What?"

Fred looked at his brother with an expression of confusion. George gave him a look that begged him to be a bit smarter.

_George murmured to himself, "It's too hot to wear long-sleeved shirts."_

* * *

Katie was sitting on Oliver's bed, his head in her lap and her hand holding his. She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight.

The painkillers finally worked.

For about half an hour.

And then, to top off the fact that he was four hours past time, they made it worse. He turned translucently pale, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his entire body trembled, even though he couldn't move a muscle. His body was ice cold, and she could feel the screams of pain that he refused to cry out. He had been in so much pain that she cried. She couldn't do anything except sit there and hold his hand and hold him in her arms, say over and over again, _it's going to be okay, you're going to be fine, we'll figure this all out, we're going to find a way, _and cry.

And he just lay there, shaking in her arms, the pain paralyzing every part of him, making it impossible for him to even cry out. All he could do was just hate himself for having fucked up and for being so goddamn weak. If he had just accepted his faults. If he had just for once been strong enough to bear the pain. If he hadn't asked her to stay.

_It's going to be okay, you're going to be fine, we'll figure this all out, we're going to find a way._

And cry.

In the end she begged him to take bane.

* * *

_**TO CLARIFY (AKA, READ THIS): I know I did the flashback kind of strangely, because I embedded it into the present moment, but George is not telling Fred the story. He's only repeating what Alicia said. The rest of that memory is just his own flashback. I'm going to start doing flashbacks like that- kind of mixed into the present moment (because I think it's kind of cool). BUT if you think that's confusing and don't like it because it's weird and makes it difficult to understand what's going on, just tell me and I'll stop doing that.**_

_********__And speaking of George and the flashback, I realize that the double meanings for Angelina and George are only obvious to me because I know what the story is... but the long-sleeved shirt/what did you do to yourself was obvious right? I didn't want to get into detail about it because that's for a later flashback, but we get what Angelina did, right? _

_********__And o__**kay, I know that Katie is not being as strong as we'd all like her to be, but I promisepromisePROMISE that she is going to have that moment you all want her to have.**_

_**And I'm working on getting more Fred into the story. I'm getting really into the Katie/Oliver and Angelina stories and like neglecting Lee and Fred.**_

_**Aaahhhh...! **_

**_It would still be very nice if you reviewed even if you totally hate this chapter and the fact that I'm making things very vague and confusing (I think it's fun and mysterious, but if its confusing and awful TELL ME.)_**


	8. Breaking

_**Yessssss it's here! The "what is Angelina going to do with Blaine", the "tell me someone with a brain has figured out Oliver" and the "George has a soul... right?" chapter. **_

_**Thank you to ncis-lady, potterphilososepher, dance along the light of the day, Ghee Buttersnaps, and Written Sparks for reviewing! I love all your reviews so much and they definitely inspire me to keep writing. **_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

Alicia picked up the vial from her atop her dresser and tapped her fingers indecisively.

Finally, she crossed over to the vanity, pulled a dark hair from Angelina's brush, and slipped it into the bottle. The potion bubbled and turned a dark blood-red. Wrinkling her nose, Alicia swallowed it in one gulp and watched curiously in the mirror as her appearance gave way to the likeness of Angelina.

Self-consciously, she made her way over to the hospital wing.

* * *

Blaine had been in a foul mood when he entered his dorm at midnight. A few first years had been talking too loudly while he was trying to feel up one of the Slytherin girls and consequently, he'd beaten up a few of them in the common room. It impressed the girl alright, but by the time he was done he didn't quite feel like talking to her. He carelessly tossed his wand onto his dresser and swore under his breath. He peeled off his shirt and threw it onto the floor as well and rummaged through the mess of clothes on top of his dresser.

"Aww, Blaine Bear have a bad day?" There came a condescendingly sweet and sarcastic voice.

Blaine turned around to see Angelina, leaning against one of his bed posts and looking bored. She was wearing the tight black leather mini and a red long-sleeved low-cut blouse she had been wearing earlier that day. His eyes immediately gleamed fiercely and he grinned, with an expression of almost manic desire in his features. "Think you can top that off, babe?"

Angelina shrugged, but didn't move otherwise. "I'd say that's for you to decide." She said airily as his eyes stared hungrily at her.

"Alright." Blaine said roughly, crossing the room to her. "I'll decide." He ripped her shirt open, caused all the buttons to pop off in different directions, and tossed her blouse onto the floor.

"Going to buy me a new top?" Angelina said in a frustratingly light tone, not moving. Blaine both loved and hated the challenge of breaking her ice cold demeanor and penetrating the heated passionate side of her.

"Babe, I like you better without it." Blaine suddenly shoved her against the wall, smiling terribly at the sickening crack of her shoulder blades fracturing as they collided against the wall.

Angelina only laughed. "Are we going to pretend you like me tonight?"

Blaine snaked his cold hands along the side of her rib cage, and when he didn't feel the familiar shiver that this generally elicited, he ran his hands roughly over her waist and hips—leaving bruises all over her skin—and pulled savagely at her skirt, popping open the zipper. "I've always liked Gryffindors. Fierce and finicky. And babe, you're the feistiest of them all." He tossed her skirt aside.

"Don't flatter me Blaine Bear." Angelina said in a bored tone, running her fingers along his chiseled jaw and pushing his face away.

"Oh, am I being too gentle?" He grabbed her around the waist, spun her around so she was facing the wall, and shoved her against it, grinning sickly at the crunch of her ribs against the wall.

Angelina arched her head back—she had known better than to let her face get smashed into the wall—and raised her eyebrows. "And here I thought you were _strong._" Blaine's eyes flashed, and he pulled his arm back, planning to strike her spine with his elbow, but she darted away, and he ended up smashing the wall. "_Oops_, silly me, I forgot that you're a bit slow." Angelina said condescendingly.

His lips pulling back into a snarl, Blaine lunged forward with lightning speed, and pinned her against one of the posts of the bed, slowly pushing her back into the sharp corner of the bed. "Slow, am I?" He said in a dangerous voice.

Angelina smacked her bubblegum.

He shoved her down onto the bed and tore at the black lace corset she was wearing. Running his hands all over her body—leaving trails of bruises—he started kissing her roughly. She felt like silk and tasted like tart cherries. "Come on babe," He bit her lip hard, and with a manic grin ran his tongue over her lips where droplets of blood were forming. He trailed his hands along the inside of her thigh.

"You're not getting anything if you have to ask for it." Angelina popped her gum. He jammed his tongue into her mouth. "You like cherry?" Angelina commented, smirking as the gum wound up in his mouth.

"You know what I like." He forced his body on top of hers and she pushed him away, but he violently shoved himself onto her, forcing her wrists to snap back with a satisfying crack.

"Do you know what _I_ like?" Angelina rolled her eyes in boredom. She propped herself up on her elbows—which shouldn't even have been possible.

"Alright, let's make this special." Blaine curled a strong arm around her torso and threw her off the bed. She landed gracefully on her feet and turned with raised eyebrows as if to question his strength. "The Great Hall." He twisted her arm, ready to pop it out of its socket, and pulled her towards the door. Angelina simply spun out as if he had been dancing with her and stepped out the dorm without waiting for him.

He blasted open the doors of the Great Hall, shoved her onto the High Table, and started kissing her fiercely. He forced her lips apart, his hands wandering again—and they weren't gentle. "You gotta give at some point." He said with a sick grin.

"I could." Angelina brushed her lips along his sharp jaw line. His skin burned where her lips made contact, and he felt as if fiendfyre was raging inside his veins. _At last_. What he wanted. "After all, I know what you like." She ran her leg along his, and his jeans came off. "Blaine Bear…" Her voice whispered seductively. Blaine's hands were already twisting at the clasp of her bra as he cut her off and started kissing her again. Angelina twirled her wand in her fingers.

_Pathetic bastard. _

Angelina swiftly spun her body over so that she was on top of Blaine, while twisting his arms into odd angles behind him, and handcuffed them. Caught up in his own lust he hadn't reacted fast enough to resist. "I think I'll do this muggle style." She said softly, almost affectionately. "After all, I do like to play _dirty._" She kicked his groin. "You know a funny thing about us Gryffindors, you don't ever just _take _us." She pushed his arm into a deeper angle with her foot and Blaine grit his teeth. His arms were quivering. "What do you say to some morphisine?" She rolled around two yellow pills in her hand and tossed them onto the table just inches from his face. "Or how about permanent humiliation?" She flicked her wand and smiled sweetly as a long chain spilled onto the table.

* * *

Katie curled up on the couch next to Fred and leaned her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her and pulled her into a tight embrace. His hugs always made her feel better. "What's wrong?"

Katie buried her face in his shoulder and didn't answer.

"Tell me, Katie Kate."

The old trick of _call me by my nickname and I'll absolutely fall to pieces in your hand_ wasn't working when at the moment she was already in pieces. "Can we skip the questions tonight and get to the part where you give me an amazing hug and I feel better?"

Fred smiled half-heartedly and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Would that really make you feel better?"

"Yes." Katie wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes.

Fred stared off into the fire and managed to contain his questions for about five seconds—he was just one of those people who could never wait. "What did he do this time?" She couldn't really expect him not to ask.

"Nothing."

He frowned. "Why do you always let him make you feel this way?"

"Can't you for once just not ask these questions?" Katie said tiredly.

"If I don't then you'll never face the truth: he's hurting you." Fred said darkly.

She let go. "That's not true, it's not him—"

He fixed her with frustrated and imploring eyes. "Katie, when will you see it? He doesn't love—"

"Fred!" Katie stood up, feeling betrayed.

Fred's jaw tightened. "I'm just telling you the truth."

Katie's eyes flashed angrily. "That's not true."

"Really?" Fred said dangerously. "Don't you think he'd _care _how he's making you feel?"

Katie stepped back, too frustrated at the irony of him saying this to respond, and left the common room.

Another irony: Fred would have apologized if he knew. But the time for that had passed.

* * *

Oliver felt great.

An overdose of bane had zinged through his body and heightened his energy and his senses to the point where it was almost overwhelming—but exhilarating. Everything was sharper, clearer, and seemed smaller in relativity to the immense strength he could feel coursing through his veins. He felt like running two marathons or swimming across the ocean.

It wasn't even dawn yet and the castle and its grounds were covered in a pall of wintry darkness, but Oliver was bursting with energy and inner light, so he changed and headed down to the Quidditch training room. For two hours he worked every muscle in his body and relished his new Herculean strength. The darkness clouding the castle grounds had hardly relented, but Oliver conjured an orb of light and started sprints across the Quidditch field. Another two hours later he still hadn't even started to sweat.

Oliver grinned to himself.

He hadn't felt this _alive _in months. He didn't realize how much trying to fight bane had sapped at his strength until now.

This was what it had felt like the first time he tried it. Suddenly he was a titan. This was a kind of strength and power he had never felt before and he _liked _it. He felt like he could have carried the weight of the world with no problem, maybe even run to the stars and back before daylight broke. He was not Oliver Wood, no, he was _invincible. _

He looked up suddenly as the sky lightened by half a shade of gray—his senses had been sharpened to an omniscient godliness—and suddenly realized that it had been a while since he really threw himself into Quidditch. Lately he'd been trying to catch up on schoolwork (he was almost failing N.E.W.T. History of Magic) and fighting bane, and now he was just itching to get on a broom and zip through the air, to throw the Quaffle around, and do what he loved most.

Because Quidditch after all, is what he loved most.

* * *

Angelina stood back and admired her work. Blaine was dangling from the chandelier above the Slytherin table, chains wrapped around his naked body and a single chain swinging him around in circles, linked to that gaudy green chandelier with its now un-glowing candles.

"You know something's still missing." She said slowly and condescendingly, walking around the Slytherin table as if contemplating. "We need some sort of finishing touch, don't you think?" She smiled sweetly. Blaine glared at her with murderous eyes. She snapped her fingers as if the idea had just struck her. "I've got it." She flicked her wand and a lacy red bra draped itself over his shoulder. Blaine tried to shake it off. "Oh Blaine Bear, don't do that." She said in a simpering tone. "Now I'll have to fix it." She flicked her wand again and it clasped itself around his neck. "Well, that looks lovely, if I do say so myself."

Blaine's expression could have made first years cry and given children nightmares. Pure hatred and unadulterated rage burned in his eyes and his features, distorted by uncontrollable wrath, seemed set in stone. "Don't think this is over." He snarled, his voice low and dangerous. "Babe, it's never going to end for _you._" He spat venomously.

"Awww, aren't you sweet Blaine Bear." Angelina smiled in a mocking melodramatically maudlin sort of way. She turned on her heel and left, "Sweet dreams Blaine Bear." Her soft laugh rang through the Great Hall long after she left.

She tossed the corset into the common room fire and watched it burn.

Then she left for the only secret place in the castle she had and waited for the morphisine to wear off so that it could take away every memory of what had happened after she swallowed that pill.

With a detached sort of mild curiosity she examined her body. There were purple bruises all over her body, everywhere he touched her. When she turned the three angled mirror she saw two identical bruises, black and tinged with scarlet red where her shoulder blades were. One of them had clearly cracked in two and the other cleanly fractured. Her wrists were bent at odd angles and there was an odd spasming at her ribs.

She couldn't feel anything just yet, so it was a bit hard to diagnose every injury, but the morphisine would be wearing off soon and it would be easy enough to tell then.

"_Episkey_."

Angelina watched as the bones wriggled back into place. She had learned a fair amount of healing by herself. She didn't like hospitals, so she learned some simple spells on her own—fixing broken bones, vanishing shallow scars, curing common illnesses.

She smiled to herself, trying to feel somewhat pleased about her recent accomplishment. Somehow she only dredged up a hollow sort of anticipation that what happiness came would have been temporary anyways. This was, after all, not a true victory. His vengeance would be worse than this and her next would be still worse yet. Blaine was right, after all, that it would never end for them. It didn't matter that neither of them would ever win; they would still fight it over because at some point someone would get the last word.

And she would get that last word if it killed her.

The four stone walls surrounding Angelina were starting to close in on her so she caved into the need for sleep and dragged herself to the Gryffindor tower. Not that she wanted to be there any more than she would have liked Blaine's dorm or perhaps the dungeons of Snape's office.

George barely glanced at her as he turned the hallway and joined her on his way back to the tower, and didn't say anything, but he knew, and somehow she knew he would.

Angelina was too weary to even glare at him, though she had to wonder how he could possibly have known; she was careful. She was very careful.

George shrugged. "I told you: I know." He said lightly.

"It's a little too late to say after the fact." She said airily, indulging in her own double meanings rather than actually dealing with the reality of his words.

He either missed it or really wasn't bothered. "I suppose it should be obvious given the circumstances."

Without sparing him a glance she said loftily, "If you knew you wouldn't say so."

He raised his eyebrows in a look of controlled surprise. "If _you _knew you wouldn't say so_._" Angelina had never been so perplexed but at the moment she didn't quite care for anything George said. She almost wondered if they were still on the same page. "After all, you did tell me."

Angelina's veins turned to icicles.

For a moment she seriously considered that. She was _sure _she had never told anyone. She was sure… Suddenly it didn't seem like such a good idea to take amnesiatic painkillers. The liquid gold light in George's eyes hypnotically suggested she believe him. And in that moment everything came cascading down inside and she almost did because it would almost be easier and really, it would feel better; but she couldn't do it.

Because she didn't—tell him. And she wouldn't. Ever.

"You're an even bigger fool than I thought if you believe _me._" She said patronizingly.

The corners of his mouth curved up in a knowing smile. "I'm not the fool Princess," He said in that so perfectly ironic, almost gentle tone that always hurt, "Not if you really think you haven't given yourself away."

And there it was, plain as ever, that George had a talent for not even searching to find the simplest words plucked right from the forgotten corners of her mind to convey the most complex and mind-entangling of her self-reflections. Pretending it was an appropriately stinging response, Angelina said condescendingly, "As if you knew where to look."

He shrugged and absently rubbed his neck.

"Check again, Princess." George said simply, his hand falling back to his side as he stepped off the staircase.

Something like glass shattering sent a cold chill down Angelina's spine as her hand reached automatically, yet tentatively to mirror his movements, pushing back her glossy hair as she gingerly touched her neck and knew before she retracted her hand, that her fingertips would be stained red.

* * *

…_. Vitalaric: adrenalphine, amplification of effects… Morphisine: narcotic, causes mild amnesia—_

Percy woke with a start as the portrait door slammed shut and his best friend Damon Grannis entered the common room. Almost immediately, he felt the exhaustion creep into his body as his eyelids drooped and his body nearly slumped over onto the table. "Dreaming about imaginary Transfiguration test questions?" Damon twirled his wand.

"Potions. What time is it?" There were dark bags under his eyes and he looked like he hadn't slept or eaten in a month.

"You look like shit." Damon said pointedly, summarizing fairly accurately what most of the seventh year population of Hogwarts was feeling.

"What's new?" Percy said wearily, as he stared at the stack of books of advanced Potions theory before him—there was a test tomorrow. Damon rolled his eyes at him and flicked his wand at the stack of books, sending them zooming up the stairs, indicating that Percy had definitely had enough studying for now.

The pressure on seventh years was immense, and at some point everyone cracked from the stress. People resorted to drugs, cheating, and sometimes completely fell through into the depths of failure. To be honest, it freaked Percy out to see his friends who had grown up with completely falter and crumble under pressure, and he was even more afraid that he might succumb to it as well.

Damon pushed open the door to their dorm. Percy didn't even bother to turn on a light as he stepped in and promptly tripped over a pile of books strewn in the middle of the room. "You definitely need to some sleep." Damon said sarcastically, flicking his wand at the lamps.

Percy grimaced and looked down at his arm. There were several glass fragments sticking out of his forearm. When he tripped he'd broken several empty glass vials that were strewn on the floor beside the pile of textbooks that Percy had tripped over.

There were still a few droplets of liquid on the glass fragments. "Is this…" Percy frowned, and angled his wrist away from the light.

"A glass fragment jammed into your veins? Yeah." Damon finished, interrupting his thought process. He grimaced at the bloody gashes on Percy's arm.

Percy gingerly grasped the edge of the glass and pulled it out of his arm, wincing slightly. A drop of sparkling black liquid fell onto the bleeding wound in his arm. He instantly stopped bleeding, even though the skin was still gashed open. An expression of incredulous alarm crossed Percy's features. "Damon, this is venenum." Percy said, staring at the black droplets on the glass.

Damon just shrugged, too tired to care. "So either Oliver or Brandon is taking bane— half the upper classmen are high on adrenalphines. Statistically, this is overdue." He kicked off his shoes and burrowed under the blankets, shoving off some books from his bed as he did so.

"Bane is dangerous." Percy frowned.

"So is Snape's volatile presence, but we brave that every day." Damon yawned.

"But—"

Damon cut him off. "There's nothing you can do about it, Perce. Why do you give a damn if they're on drugs, anyways? Just get your arm fixed or go to bed."

Percy stared at his arm, criss-crossed with gashes, some still bleeding, and others just angry red. "Right." He frowned, and went down to the hospital wing to get his arm bandaged in a sort of daze, pretending not to be disturbed by the prospect of having a drug-possessed roommate.

* * *

It wasn't really pacing.

Angelina stared at the stone wall until it started to play images, then she stumbled back, almost tripping over her limbs, and shakily crossed the room as her eyes darted from the cold floor to the opposite wall.

It was a tiny alcove with four stone walls and no windows. She hated it but it was the only place that she knew no one else could find. She was alone with nothing but her own poisonous thoughts.

The walls were starting to talk again.

_Eyes dark and piercing as they bored holes inside her._

"_Angie why would you do that to yourself?" _

_She dug her fingernails into the stone walls. Every muscle in her body was uncontrollably convulsing. Against the wall, she wanted to run right into it if only she could have._

"_I have nothing left to say to you Ange. You're crazy."_

_A sick grin broke across his features._

"_Just a pathetic little insignificant half Mudblood." _

_Everything was drowned in red. It was dripping from her fingertips, falling from the walls, pooling into currents at her feet. It was a rising flood inside her, spilling in torrents from the very air. She breathed in and tasted her own blood._

"_You didn't think I'd just let you go now, did you?" _

Palms pressed against her temples until her head hurt, Angelina didn't think she could ever shake that from her mind. Breathing heavily, she tried to remember just how much morphisine she had taken. Its amnesiatic affects wouldn't start to work until it was gone from her body.

"_I didn't do anything wrong." _

She had a better idea, suddenly. Why wait for the morphisine to leave when she could drain it out herself?

_Flash of silver._

"_I'm fine."_

* * *

"_Affinito._"

Four Quaffles rose into the air and immediately started hurled towards the goal posts. Oliver grinned and kicked off into the air.

He was soon a blur in the breaking dawn as he zoomed in the air, weaving in and out of the goal posts, fighting off the Quaffles as they repeatedly arced back in their path towards him. This was the familiar rush of Quidditch; impending action, split-second decisions, everything happening here and now with no time to think, just to act. The cool air whipped his skin as he zipped through the air, breaking up rudimentary particles of frost in his wake. The sun was still fighting to break through the morning winter fog and somehow he felt like he could sense every ray that managed to shine.

The stars finally faded completely and the day light was just barely starting to penetrate from behind the clouds so that it reflected off of the icicles that had formed through the night. A staggering sort of weariness suddenly knocked the breath out of him. Sharp focus blurred back into normal state of mind and that titan invincibility vanished just as the weight of the world crashed down on his shoulders.

"_Concesso."_

Oliver landed on the grass, feeling the impact reel through his body.

He was human once more.

* * *

Katie wrapped her arms around her knees and shivered. Her eyes still darting around in her head as she watched the colors blur on the Quidditch pitch—gold, red, green, and a hazy gray trailing in the wake that might have been her own imagination—Katie balanced her chin on the crook of her arm and rocked back and forth.

She didn't normally like to dwell on unhappy moments, but today was an exception and now she felt emotionally drained.

Her confrontation with Oliver that morning by the courtyard fountain that morning seemed so long ago as she waited for the sun to rise and start a new day so she could hopefully forget this one. That's all she wanted to do. Move on from these moments and be able to appreciate the present for something other than a reflection of her sorrows. She tried to remember how she had done it before, but all she could hear were Fred's words ringing in her head—_ he doesn't love… _

Katie couldn't let him finish that sentence. She couldn't even finish it for herself.

But somehow as she sat on top of the South Tower, feeling frostbitten down to the core, watching the golden blur that was Oliver—always coming back to Quidditch— those words were the only thing she could hear and at some point they were bound to come to the inevitable conclusion that _he doesn't love—_

"_Thermilius_."

A sudden rush of warmth surged through her body as if she had just finished a steaming mug of hot chocolate by the fire. A soft ribbon cloud vanished as Katie closed her eyes after her first uneasy breath that day.

"Well I guess I don't need to practice that anymore." He twirled his wand in his fingers and sat down next to her, his legs dangling over the edge of the tower as he leaned back on his elbows in a dangerously casual pose.

Katie curled up, her cheek resting on her knees, and her arms folded in so that she looked as small as she possibly could. "No, that was great."

"Not that I would have practiced anyways." George stretched out and laid his body flat on the ledge. "It's been a long night."

"It's been a long _day._" Katie realized that was the first truly honest thing she'd said about how she felt. It had been a _really _long day.

George smiled, unfazed. "Isn't every day?"

"Well aren't you Mr. Sunshine." Katie said with half-hearted sarcasm.

"Glowing radiantly beside Hurricane Katie."

Katie cracked a smile. "On her way towards your city. Disaster preparations recommended."

"I bet Fred and I could take you."

"Yeah right." Katie smiled. This was the rhythmic and pointless banter that Katie preferred in lieu of concerning questions. "You wouldn't stand a chance."

"Try telling that to Percy."

"Ahem. Good evening Hogwarts, this is Channel 8 News reporting that Hurricane Katie is indeed expected to hit London. Category Five and raging every which way, evacuation plans are indeed underway."

They laughed.

"I don't know what that means." George said, turning to face her.

"It's a muggle thing."

"Mm. Don't think Percy's quite so advanced in Muggle Studies."

Katie turned to face George. "No, I don't think so either."

George looked up at the sky. There was a hazy golden glow behind the thick clouds, but no sunlight seemed to be penetrating through. "It has been a long day." He said lightly. There was every note of sincerity in his voice, but as far as Katie knew he was only being sympathetic.

"Sometimes I don't know what to believe." Katie turned back to the Quidditch pitch and knotted her eyebrows together as she trained her eyes onto the four separate shooting flashes of red.

George grinned at her. "Well that's easy."

"Is it?" Something as beautiful as a swirling blur of gold entwined with red shooting star semblances should never hurt. Was there something she wasn't seeing? Some reason to stop believing in the one thing that was keeping her grounded to something more than mere moments?

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Really. Because you don't choose what you believe in, you just do. That's what it means to believe."

Katie traced the outline of the stones on the ledge and watched as the ethereal gold that was almost starting to burn faded and the Oliver descended, the red blazoning whirls falling gracefully to join him. The first rays of sunlight finally reached down to them and Oliver shading his eyes from the direct brilliance, turned and saw at the top of the South Tower, a blue scarf flying in the winter wind. Katie caught her breath and gripped the ledge until her fingers turned white. He smiled at her, uncertain if she could tell.

And it was like saying he could catch rays of sunlight, but somehow he thought she did.

She smiled to herself and looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was indeed shining through the blanket of clouds. Yesterday had ended in fading darkness with its sorrows. For as long as that day had felt it was over now and she wouldn't dwell on that. Moments begin and end, sadness comes and goes. A new day was breaking and there were endless possibilities for what it would bring.

Katie turned to George with a radiant smile. "It's a new day."

George grabbed her hands and pulled up to standing. He nodded towards the field. She looked at him hopefully, eyes sparkling. "Looks like Hurricane Katie will have to wait for another day."

* * *

_**I really wanted to title this chapter "The Longest Day" but then it wouldn't have gone with my chapter-naming-pattern... **_

_**Anyways, hope you liked that. More Lee and Fred next chapter... I promise. I actually had a section with Lee but then it didn't happen until the next day and I really liked the idea of all this happening in one really long night where everyone's just having an all around crappy time. **_

_**BTW do we like having Percy in the story? I like Percy and I just realized the other day he was the same year as Oliver and so now I'm sticking him into the story. And I'm going to put in Ginny later when I start going into the war, but do you want to focus on the romance right now and then ease in the war later? Or would it be more interesting to start doing that now?**_

_**Let me know! Review! :D**_


	9. Needing

_**Thank you ncis-lady, Ghee Buttersnaps15, Dance along the light of the day, and WrittenSparks for reviewing :) Your reviews make me so happy!**___

_**I hope you enjoy this and review!**_

* * *

It didn't hurt. Even after she was certain that all the morphisine was gone, it didn't hurt.

Her head was spinning and her vision was starting to go fuzzy. All she could see were the gray stones in the wall and the red splatters on the floor. That was nice, for once not to see what was inside. She looked down at her exposed veins and admired the watercolor splashed across her body.

"_Claudere medicio." _She murmured, pointing her wand. There was a curious sensation as her veins closed up. "_Repleo sanguis_."

Her body was swaying and she would dearly embrace the fall. How lovely it would be to just keep falling and falling into darkness until there was no light and she could be certain there never was. She was, however, only greeted by the cold gray walls and their cheery salutations:

"_I just want you to be okay."_

_She hesitated, her fingers turning white as the point hovered above her ebony skin. Her heart was pounding fast inside her chest and for a moment she was afraid._

"_Because I care." _

_The scalding hot water burned at her face as she waited for the steam to penetrate her skin. Maybe if she turned it hotter. Maybe if she let the water build up. Maybe if she submerged herself. _

"_I know." _

_White-washed walls glowing too brightly; so clean. They would drown her in antiseptic, shove it down her throat, inject it into her veins until it burned up everything and corroded her blood vessels to white-washed ashes._

Angelina opened her eyes. Four gray walls. Splatters of the morphisine inside her spilled over onto the ground. But it was over now because all of it was gone.

Her mind white-washed for now.

* * *

Katie was sitting on the bench outside the boys' locker room when Oliver emerged. "Hey." She smiled.

"Hey." He felt guilty all of a sudden.

"Feeling okay?" Katie played absently with the fringe on her scarf.

"Yeah, I'm alright." He ran his fingers through his hair, still wet from his scalding shower. "I'm sorry."

"Why?"

Oliver sat beside her. "I should stop. Being obsessed with Quidditch. I just can't help it. I like it—I _love _it."

Katie leaned her head on his shoulder. "I know. And you're good at it." Oliver slipped his arm around her. "Do you think you'll ever love anything more than you love Quidditch?"

It was such an earnest question that he wanted to answer honestly, but he really didn't know what the truth was. So much of his life had been spent on Quidditch that there were all sorts of confounding emotions he had—frustration, excitement, disappointment, joy. But it was the one thing he knew he would do anything for. And he did.

"I don't know." He said, because that was the truth. "I mean Quidditch is… I've always… Playing Quidditch has just always been my dream, since I was a kid, now—I want to play professional—it's still that way."

Katie closed her eyes. Part of her wanted to collapse into a million pieces, but part of her appreciated his honesty and was determined to change that answer. She looked up at Oliver's light brown eyes. "Can I tell you something?"

Oliver nodded. "Please."

"Oliver, _you _were my dream. Ever since my first year everyone in my year has always looked to you as some sort of god. You were amazing at Quidditch, brilliant at every subject, you had this future way out beyond the stars that we all wanted to be a part of. And I never thought that you would ever look twice at me. I never thought that there was a story behind who you really were. So you know, things don't always turn out the way you think they will even when dreams come true."

Katie took his hand and looked earnestly into his eyes. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "Katie…" He didn't know what to say.

"Don't give up, Oliver. Your dream can be Quidditch, you just have to find a way to reach it."

"Will you find it with me?"

Katie smiled her constellation smile. "It's only fair that I do."

* * *

Lee hadn't been able to go back to sleep since George returned to their dorm at five in the morning and closed the door too hard, waking him up. He dragged on his robes and headed down to the kitchens for something to eat. He absently strode through corridors, past windows, and across corners without paying much attention to the surrounding castle. No one would bother be awake at this time.

He stopped suddenly and doubled back.

"Angelina?"

She was sitting on the window sill of a large stained-glass window above the stairway to the East Wing. She turned at the sound of his voice but her expression remained impassive. "I like stained-glass." She said without much emotion.

Lee nodded. "I know."

Angelina resumed staring outside at something that Lee tried to figure out from his place several feet away. Finally he said, "Looking for something?"

Angelina didn't move. "Not in particular. You?"

Lee rubbed his neck. "Uh well I was going to get some breakfast."

She didn't seem to hear him. It was the typical cold hostility of Angelina. Lee jammed his hands in his pockets.

"You okay?" He wasn't quite sure what possessed him ask her that when she seemed perfectly alright.

"Just fine." Angelina swung her legs gracefully from the window sill and turned to face him, finally. "You?"

"Just fine." Lee echoed. There was now an empty space on the window sill and without thinking, he sat beside her. "I couldn't sleep."

"What woke you up this time?" To say Lee was a light sleeper was somewhat of an understatement. Any sound while he was asleep rendered him an insomniac for the rest of the day.

"Roommate." Lee avoided mention of George's name. He absently rested one hand on the small of her back. For some reason it just felt right. She leaned her head on his shoulder. It was nice. "You?"

She shrugged. "I'm a busy girl."

"Too busy for sleep?"

"I'm gorgeous enough without need for beauty sleep."

Lee smiled. "You are. You're beautiful." He wasn't sure why he said that when it was merely a repetition of what she already arrogantly acknowledged.

"So is she." Angelina said lightly in a tone that suggested a recitation of fact rather than jealousy.

Lee examined the fraying threads at the knee of his jeans and didn't say anything.

Angelina had a talent for ending conversations.

* * *

"This won't be pretty." Alicia grimaced as they made their way to the Great Hall.

"Why?" Katie asked.

Alicia didn't answer. George looked over to see that she looked apprehensive. "It'll be fine." He said, in a brusquely reassuring way.

"Watch out!" Alicia said, as George walked right into someone and almost knocked her down the stairs.

"Sorry Jane," George said to the girl he had collided into. "You alright?" He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her. She nodded. "Cool." George flashed her an apologetic smile, picked up her books, and set them in her arms.

"Her name is Isabelle." Katie said to him as they continued walking.

"Oh."

"Where's Angelina and Lee?" Alicia said suddenly.

Fred shrugged and craned his neck as they reached the Great Hall. "What's going on?"

Alicia swallowed. "I don't want to know."

"I do." Fred started weaving in and out of the crowd, with the others following, and after lots of toe-treading, and murmured _excuse me'_s they finally reached the front of the crowd.

"Shit."

"I told you."

"Well she's outdone herself this time." George whistled under his breath.

"She had it all planned out, too." Alicia crossed her arms. "She took morphisine so she wouldn't remember."

"Of course she did." Fred said with disgust, turning to leave the Great Hall. He put his arm around Katie, who was staring up at the ceiling in shock, and took Alicia's hand—she looked like she might be sick—and left the Great Hall. "Angelina never knew what was good for her." He said darkly.

Fred hadn't forgotten what happened the first time and part of him hadn't forgiven her.

_Alicia's face was pale and Katie's was tear-streaked. Lee had taken Katie back to the common room, away from what was happening. Because it wasn't pretty._

_Angelina was livid and made no secret about that. They could hear her yelling and snarling at him even from outside the doors. His replies were quiet and unheard. There was a movement of shadows and he closed the door softly behind him, eyes cloudy and dark. Voices inside started to speak and Angelina started to scream. A shrill scream that pierced the air and sent a painful jolt through their nerves. _

_He stared down at the tiles on the floor. Alicia timidly stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. "That must have been hard." _

_He stood in place, his body shaking and his heart splitting within his chest. "Yeah." He said quietly, his voice steady somehow. "It was." _

_Fred's jaw locked tightly when he saw the pained look on his brother's face. He would never know what was said behind closed doors, what happened in the dark of the night, or what kind of hell would come haunting, but he didn't care. All he knew was that he could never truly forgive Angelina._

* * *

"Thank you Professor Vector." Alicia rolled up her essay and crossed the classroom—now empty, as she had stayed later to ask a question—and grabbed her books. Usually Fred walked her to Transfiguration, but Tralewney's attic was almost halfway across the castle.

"My pleasure Miss Spinnet." Professor Vector smiled warmly and left the room for the staff quarters.

Alicia unfurled her Transfiguration essay and rummaged through her bag for her quill, and closed the classroom door behind her. She started down the long corridor out of the South wing with her eyes glued to her essay, trying to do some last-minute editing.

She felt an oppressing presence suddenly appear at her side. Alicia looked up and involuntarily flinched as Blaine emerged from the shadows and suddenly walked at her side—almost _touching _her—and gave her a preying sort of grin. Heart racing, Alicia fought to stay calm as she turned back to her essay, watching him out of the corner of her eye.

"What do you want?" Alicia was only a quarter of the way down the corridor. At their disturbingly close proximity she couldn't draw her wand without risking that he might grab it from her hand, and she was sure she couldn't outrun him.

He laughed. It was a low and condescending sort of laugh that echoed in the hallways and made her stomach twist. "You don't like me." His voice was smooth and low and made her grit her teeth.

"I'm allergic to psychopathy." Alicia snapped, speeding up her walk and praying that he couldn't feel the speed at which her heart was ramming against her chest. Something about Blaine just radiated danger and brutality. She could feel the imminent threat of his animalistic impulse and strength.

Blaine chuckled, but it sounded like the low growl of a feral beast. Alicia's arms were shaking, though she tried to cover for it by scrolling up her essay and putting it back in her bag. "You Gryffindors and your reckless insults." He said as if entertaining the thought. "I just can't help myself."

Alicia felt her heart turn to ice but she kept walking. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Blaine turned and studied her. She stopped suddenly, feeling chillingly exposed as his eyes raked down her body, pausing at her chest. An animalistic glint of desire lit up in his cruel eyes. "I like Gryffindors." Blaine said slowly and dangerously, advancing on her. Alicia glared at him without backing down. He circled her, "Fierce and feisty, I always say," His hands trailed up her spine.

Alicia whipped out her wand from her jeans and whirled around. "_Stup—" _She clamped down her jaw to keep from crying out as Blaine grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm until it felt like it would pop out of its socket. Her wand clattered to the floor and he grinned.

Alicia twisted her body so that her arm was no longer at an awkward angle, jammed her elbow into the soft flesh on the inside of his ribs, and bolted out the corridor, running as fast as she possibly could, not even caring that her bag had slipped off her shoulder. Past this corridor was a upward staircase, then two more hallways that led to the dungeons or the open intersection of the South wing and the South parlor. The entire South wing was empty right now as there were no more classes for the day, and all the hallways were dim as Alicia tore through the corridor, and pounded up the stairs. All the while she could hear Blaine's footsteps coming closer and closer. This was hardly a chase. He wasn't even trying.

Alicia stumbled on a stair and suddenly found Blaine towering over her. Thinking fast, she kicked his knee as hard as she could, and hurriedly scrambled up the staircase and into the next hallway. Her entire body screamed out as if burned by ice as Blaine grabbed her around the waist and pinned her against the wall. Breathing heavily, Alicia looked around desperately for something—anything—to use for escape.

Suddenly Blaine had crushed his lips onto hers. Flailing, she turned her head and pushed and shoved but he only laughed and snapped her neck into place and rammed his tongue into her mouth. Alicia bit down hard and nearly retched at the taste of him.

Blaine smiled cruelly. "Oh, you're almost more fun than my Angelina babe." He tore at her cardigan.

Alicia fought in a frenzied tangled of limbs, but he only grinned and popped off the buttons of her cardigan one at a time. Alicia squirmed and bit his hand, freeing her for long enough to run again before he grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the wall, grinning as her head snapped back and hit the wall. Alicia gasped for air and tried to fight his grasp against the splitting pain in her head. He pressed his fingers against his throat and smiled terribly as blood trickled down the wall.

"Alicia Spinnet." She felt as if a cold knife had been run through her stomach as he said her name. "That's, right, isn't it?" Blaine's cold hands touched her face—she felt as if she were burning, and tried to turn away from him, but Blaine jerked her forward until his black eyes were staring into her frightened green ones. Alicia bit down on her lip to keep from screaming as the rough movement caused a shooting pain and turned her vision blood-red. "I said: _That's right, isn't it?_" He shoved her again face forward into the wall, but Alicia managed to turn her face and bit down her lip as her ribs were crushed against the wall.

He turned her body harshly and pinned her crumpled form against the wall, turning her face roughly so that he could look her in the eye.

Blood was spurting from her lips but she managed not to cry out, though her green eyes were brimming with tears and she was shaking all over, pain lacerating through her body. "Fuck you." She whispered through the pain.

There was a cruel glint in his eye that seemed to cut into her. "Oh, I'd like to, Ally." With a twist of his fingers the top button of her shirt popped off.

Alicia kicked him in response but he rammed his foot into her ankle and crushed it against the wall. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she snapped, "Don't call me Ally."

He laughed. "Ally, you're almost better than my Angelina babe."

Alicia glared at him with ironic hatred. "I'm what you'd call a fucking half-Mudblood. So leave me alone and find someone without a soul for you to break."

He smiled coldly. "You're quite the Gryffindor, Ally." He said, as if amused.

"And you're quite the Slytherin." She said venomously through gritted teeth, her hatred for this monster the only thing that kept her from collapsing into a convulsing heap and screaming unrelentingly for the pain that was wracking her body.

"Well, thank you Ally." Blaine jerked forward and shoved his elbow into her crushed rib cage, finally eliciting the scream that he had been hoping for.

At this point Alicia couldn't have held in that scream if her life depended on it. The pain was more than excruciating; it threatened to tear her body apart; it was the worst pain she had—and would—ever feel in her life; she would have killed herself if only to escape it for one second. Her body crumpled as her muscles stopped being able to function and in her head the only thing that existed was this pain, as it destroyed her piece by piece.

Tears slid down her face.

"Aww, did I hurt you Ally?" Finally he removed his elbow from her rib cage, her limp body pinned against the wall so that her feet dangled above the ground. Her head seemed no longer able to support itself. "Tell me where it hurts." Blaine's hand reached under her shirt, his cold and rough fingers tracing the taut skin of her stomach, his touch like the driving point of a cold knife, inciting screams all the same. She felt as if she was burning from the inside out. His fingers paused for a moment before he shoved the heel of his palm into her broken ribs, eliciting a terrible scream that rattled her brain, tears burning down her cheeks, feeding the fire in his eyes. "Let me see where it hurts, Ally." He ripped her cardigan off.

Alicia clutched at her shirt, desperately trying to hold onto her sanity. She had never felt so violated and exposed in her life. Even with her shirt on she swore he could see through her and his stare felt like he had grabbed onto her heart and twisted it in her chest. When she wasn't screaming the sound was echoing in her mind because _all she wanted to do was cry_. And she did, as Blaine pulled her body from the wall towards his, causing pain to shred through her body.

"Aw, I'm sorry, Ally. You'll forgive me, won't you?" He stroked her cheek with his cold fingers. She felt her face burn. "Let me make it up to you." He grinned and forced his lips onto hers as his hand crushed her broken body into his. She let out a strangled cry.

"I'll never…" Alicia had no strength left to fight or finish that sentence.

Blaine smiled, quite amused by the losing fight she was putting up. "You know, you could teach my Angelina babe a few things." He traced his lips along her collarbone and bit down. She barely felt that in the scope of he had done to her already.

"Stay away from her." Her vision was starting to blur, from her tears, and from the lack of oxygen as she could barely breathe. The pain was so intense that all she could do was pray that it would overtake her.

"Alright, Ally. If you say so. I think I'll just have you give her a message for me." Blaine ran his fingers along her sternum and down her chest—popping off the buttons of her shirt as he did so—and paused just before her rib cage. "What do you say, Ally?"

All she wanted was for the pain to stop; for him to just leave so that she could crumble onto the ground, crying and screaming until she passed out from the pain. Panic and hysteria raced in her mind. She wanted to curl up and die. But she was learning quickly that if she gave in he would have no reason not to snap her neck, so she mustered up the breath—fighting against the pain—to say, "You're a monster."

He tilted her chin up so she was looking right at his cruel face. "You know, I really like you, Ally." He grinned. "So I'll make this really simple." His lips grazed her ear. "Ready, Ally?"

Her heart was pounding so hard and fast she was sure that at some point it tear out of her chest to stop. Even the simple beating of her heart was enough to elicit pain. "Don't call me Ally."

He chuckled and threw her to the ground, watching calmly as her body crashed against the stone floor and her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she finally lay still.

* * *

"I would like all of your essays about animangi transformation on my desk, please." Professor McGonagall waved her wand and tapped her desk so that twenty-nine scrolls landed in a neat pyramid on her desk.

Fred frowned at the empty seat next to him. "Where's Alicia?"

Angelina shrugged. "She was in Ancient Runes. She stayed late to ask Professor Vector a question."

"Oh." Fred still felt unsettled. At the moment he was not inclined to take Angelina's word, especially because Alicia never missed class unless Madam Pomfrey magically restrained her hospital wing bed—which had, on occasion, happened.

"You're sure she was there?" Lee asked.

Angelina rolled her eyes and smacked her gum in response.

Fred tried to catch his brother's eye, but George was frowning, deep in thought. Divination had run late and Fred hadn't had a chance to walk Alicia to class. And Blaine had only just been set down from his place dangling below the chandelier. He was not one to wait and plan—he had an animalistic impulse. The look of realization in George's eyes made Fred's blood turn cold.

"Professor McGonagall!" Fred turned to face the teacher, his face suddenly pale.

"Yes, Mr. Weasley?" She gave Fred a stern look through her square spectacles.

He had a miserable look in his eyes and severely pained expression that was only half an act, as he started to feel sick. "I… I'm not feeling well."

Professor McGonagall's expression neutralized somewhat at the tired pain in his features that was never present in Fred Weasley before. "What seems to be your ailment?"

Fred lowered his eyes and pressed his hand against his chest as if his heart was hurting—he'd learned early on that this simple movement elicited sympathy even if it physically wasn't possible. "I don't know." He said miserably. "I just feel… wrong."

At this point the class was staring curiously. Fred Weasley had always been lively and energetic, but he looked very sick. Some of the guys were trying not to laugh at how pathetic he was coming off. Professor McGongall crossed her arms. "Well alright. Do you need someone to walk you to the hospital wing?"

A few guys snickered at the thought of that.

"Oh no, that's not necessary." Fred knew that if George came along McGonagall would definitely suspect something. Besides, some of the girls were already looking so depressingly sympathetic for his imaginary illness that he was sure this was the right thing to say.

Professor McGonagall tapped the quill on her desk, which started to hastily scribble a note. "Madam Pomfrey will be expecting you." She flicked her wand and the tiny note zoomed out of the classroom after Fred.

As soon as the classroom door closed behind him, Fred bolted down the corridor, heading for the place he knew Alicia had been.

* * *

Angelina was the first person out of the classroom when Professor McGonagall dismissed the class.

"Angelina!"

She ignored his call and ran up a staircase.

"Come on, Ange."

Angelina hastily sped down a hallway.

"Ange, stop."

She whirled around. "I don't know where Alicia is!"

"I know." Lee was looking at her warily as if she might spontaneously explode—which she felt she was getting dangerously close to.

"I don't know where she is." Angelina repeated. She was trying hard not to show it, but she was shaking inside and panicking. She had no idea where Alicia was, but she knew that all of this screamed _Blaine_ and that it was her fault. For the first time in a long time Angelina was feeling skittish and nervous. There was horrible, guilty feeling settled inside her and she felt sick.

"Ange," Lee put his hands on her shoulders. She was tense and cold as stone from trying not to shake. "I know." He said softly.

"This is my fault." Angelina said, her voice edging on panicked. Shetried to it down. "Fuck, what if he did something to her? This is all my fault. I shouldn't have dragged her into this. God and this is _Blaine_. Fucking Blaine. He's not just going to scare her, he's going to hurt her, he'll… he'll fucking tear her apart and leave the pieces at my dorm. And the fuck am I supposed to do? I didn't know that he'd sink this low, I thought this was just the two of us, him trying to kill me—"

"Angelina!" Lee shook her shoulders. "You're starting to—" He stopped before he said _talk crazy_. Because if there was ever anything that set off Angelina it was the slightest suggestion that she was anything but sane. "—panic. We can't panic." He looked straight into her eyes. "Just breathe, Ange."

Angelina shrugged him off and turned away. "I'm fine." She gripped her wrist. She hadn't felt this scared in a long time. It was almost enough to drive her to her old habits for therapy. _God, what the fuck is wrong with me? _Well, she knew, but that wasn't an answer.

Lee exhaled slowly and turned Angelina to face her. "Ange, it's not going to do any good to blame yourself, even if it's true. You need to figure out how to be sure that Blaine won't attack anyone else."

"Katie." Angelina murmured. At least Alicia could recognize Blaine for a monster, Katie hadn't even known who he was until recently. Angelina hadn't forgotten the last time Katie had gotten involved—not even _involved, _but touched on the _fringe_ of the crisis.

"Why do you think he did this?" Lee's voice was remarkably steady.

Angelina took a deep breath. "To show he can get leverage easily."

Lee leaned against the wall, indicating that this was going to be a long conversation. "Can he?"

Angelina felt her heart turn to ice and for a moment couldn't breathe. Her throat closed up and her eyes were stinging. _How could I do this? _She was never in any position to be a match for Blaine, and she was never in any place to risk her friends' like this.

"Ange, did you ever think about that?"

Honestly, she shook her head and swallowed back her tears. She was not the one to be crying right now. Besides, she hadn't cried in years and now wasn't the time to start. She focused on breathing regularly and softly, so as not to sound like she was making an effort. Even in the fall she wasn't going to break. "How could I do this?" Angelina whispered.

Lee's eyes softened and he wrapped his arms around her. She wanted to melt into that embrace and hold onto him with all her strength—not much, really—and tell him everything, but that wasn't an option. She couldn't tell him everything. It was too much, so she settled for holding onto him tightly, swallowing back the last of her desire to cry, and pretending not to hear him say, "You can tell me."

* * *

When Alicia opened her eyes it was dawn and a hazy golden light was straining through the half-closed curtains. Madam Pomfrey had mended most of her injuries already, but the pain hadn't relented quite so much. Yet that wasn't why Alicia felt as if she still couldn't speak. Tears burned in her throat, and she was shaking from the feeling of his cold fingers touching her, crushing her body.

Fred looked up at her and she saw relief light up in his eyes. "Alicia!"

She looked at him, unable to speak at the moment as she tried to take in everything that had happened. All she could see in her mind was being alone in that dark corridor as Blaine tore at her body, exposing her in every way, and crushing her with a pain that was indescribable and unparalleled by anything she could ever feel.

"Fred?" When she finally spoke she sounded so uncertain. Any and all of her strength had disappeared and she felt so weak and scared and hurt.

Fred took her hand. His touch was warm and familiar. He squeezed her hand. For once he wouldn't ask questions—wouldn't ask what happened or demand to know what he did to her because he knew that she wouldn't want to relive that. "Madam Pomfrey said there would still be some pain." He said softly, in reference to her injuries.

She nodded. Fred brushed the bangs away from her face. She squeezed his hand. His touch was so comforting. For a moment she could forget it all. "I'm so scared." She managed to say, tears falling down her face. "I feel so weak."

"Alicia," Fred gently brushed her tears away with his thumb. She wanted to lose herself in his touch. "You're not weak." He slipped his arm around her shoulders, gently lifted her up, sat on the bed beside her, and held her in his arms. She buried her face in his chest, wanting him to blanket her with his warmth and familiarity. She just wanted to forget what happened—even if the pain remained—but the sound of his voice was ingrained in her mind and the terrible feeling of his cold and stabbing touch made her blood freeze. She was shivering even in Fred's arms.

She held onto him tightly, wishing she could just breathe him in.

Her head hurt, her ribs felt as if they were still broken; there was an emptiness in her chest that ached and burned, there was a cold pain twisting in her stomach as she could still feel him shoving her against his body, crushing her into the cold stone corridor. But she didn't want to feel that, she wanted to feel Fred's arms around her, let the rise and fall of his chest a in a regular pattern slow down her racing heart, know that he was here now and she didn't ever have to lay there broken in the dark.

"I'm here, Alicia." Fred said softly. It was all he could say when she clearly wasn't okay, didn't want to think about what had happened, and was still hurting in all sorts of ways. "I'll be here for you." He gently rubbed her back and pressed his lips to her forehead. "I promise I'll see you through this."

She couldn't remember how long it was, that she held onto him with all the strength she had left, until her sobs subsided with his comforting words. Finally she was just breathing heavy—and even though it hurt, she made herself take deep, slow breaths. And after a while she was breathing in sync with him and she was able to close her eyes for a moment and just see herself in the warm room with Fred's arms wrapped around her.

She kept focusing on her breathing, and on Fred's reassuring presence, and on the hazy sunlight that was weakly trying to shine some warmth onto her. She held tightly onto Fred as if he were her lifeline, because he was all she had. And as she held onto him and felt his strength healing her, she realized that she was okay with that.

Fred tucked the blanket around her and lay her back down in the bed. She was just tired now.

On the table beside them were two yellow tablets. "Do you need these?" Fred asked gently.

Morphisine.

Alicia took the pills in her hand and studied the small pills. All she had wanted was to forget.

Before she could regret the decision, Alicia threw the pills across the room where they landed neatly into the trashcan by the opposite wall. "No."

Because what happens, happens, and she needed to be strong enough to overcome whatever challenges came her way. She needed to know she had the strength to bear the pain, to have been in that place and escaped. When she knew the kind of downward spiral that resulted from relying on artificial security; when she knew that someone like Fred would stay up all night just so that she wouldn't wake up alone to these horrifying memories, she knew that she didn't need it.

Fred smiled. "Nice shot."

Alicia managed a smile. "There's a reason I'm the star Chaser."

He squeezed her hand. "You're not weak, Alicia. You're strong."

Alicia squeezed his hand back. "Fred, I love you."

"I love you, Alicia."

She smiled. She was starting to feel drowsy again. "I think I'll be okay now."

Fred kissed her forehead. "I think so too."

* * *

_**I like to think this chapter is my apology to all the characters I've been neglecting (Fred, Alicia, and Lee). **_

_**I realized when I finished the Blaine/Alicia section that I've definitely watched too many horror movies and criminal dramas... That scene is definitely the magical version of girl-walks-on-college-campus-late-at-night-and-gets-attacked-by-psychopathic-sadist-killer.**_

_**Also, **__**I'm not going to lie, I didn't edit this chapter. I was so excited to post it that I kind of skipped that part :D**_


	10. Hurting

_**Thank you to Dance along the light of the day, Ghee Buttersnaps 15, Written Sparks, and The Dupilcate for reviewing! **_

* * *

"…and that will be all for today." Professor Vector finally concluded. Katie immediately swept her books, quill, and ink into her bag, eager to leave. "Please come up and collect your essays when I call your name. Gareth Andrews, Laura Aplan, Kathryn Bell…"

Katie grabbed her essay and shoved it into her bag without looking at her grade—it probably wasn't very good.

"…If I didn't call your name please come forward."

Isabelle Snow shyly came forward and Katie narrowly missed walking right into her as she walked back to her desk, counting down seconds.

At last it was ten o'clock and Katie rushed out the class, only to run into someone. "Ow, sorry." Katie rubbed her forehead and dropped down to pick up her books.

He beat her to it. "Don't be sorry, I should really watch where I'm going."

Katie looked up as Blaine gave her a charming smile. She smiled back, but felt her heart skip a beat. Blaine smiled. "Kathryn, right?"

"Um, Katie." She felt a bit uncertain about where this was going and wondered how he knew her name.

"Well I feel really bad for just crashing right into you. Let me walk you to class." He smiled invitingly.

Katie smiled for lack of an appropriate reaction. "Oh you don't have to! I'm fine! Besides, Divination is across the castle." Normally Oliver walked her to Divination anyways. She tried to subtly look down the hall for Oliver.

"North tower, right?" Blaine started off down the hall and indicated she should follow.

Oliver was nowhere in sight. "Right." Katie followed cautiously, noting that at least the halls were crowded. She couldn't exactly abandon her books with him, seeing as she needed them. "I'm sorry, I don't think I've met you before."

"Oh, right!" Blaine rubbed his neck as if embarrassed. "I'm Blaine," He said, as if that settled it. Katie smiled, trying not to look apprehensive, and searched out of the corner of her eye for someone to talk to so she could get away from Blaine. "So, you play Quidditch, right?"

"Yes!" Katie said, perhaps overenthusiastically, glad that there was a logical reason he knew her name.

He nodded. "Cool, Kathryn."

"Katie." She said.

"Sorry?"

"You can call me Katie." She felt perhaps she shouldn't have said that, as they left the History wing to the staircases where less people were likely to be.

Blaine just smiled in a way that seemed genuinely nice. "Sorry about that."

"There you are Katie!" Oliver saw her from the intersection of hallways. He slipped his arm around her and smiled at Blaine. "Alright, Blaine?"

Blaine grinned at Oliver. "Great. Cool, Oliver?" Katie's eyes darted between the two of them, wondering about this curious exchange.

Oliver shrugged casually.

Blaine smiled apologetically to Katie and handed her books back. "Well, it looks like I should go." She felt a huge sigh of relief as she accepted them. "See you 'round Kathryn!"

"Katie!" She called after him.

"Didn't know you knew Blaine." Olive said conversationally, taking her books from her and kissing her cheek.

"I don't." Katie wrinkled her nose at the thought of him. "He kind of creeps me out."

Oliver shrugged. "He's alright for a Slytherin."

"Even Lee doesn't like him." She said, as if that settled it.

"Why not?"

Katie stared at the wall across from them as something suddenly clicked into place in her mind. "I don't know." She lied. "I guess there must be some kind of history. I don't like to deal with that kind of stuff."

Oliver smiled and they continued on towards Tralewney's attic. Katie shrugged his arm away.

* * *

Professor Binns never took attendance, or even glanced at his students, really—not that Angelina had cared to think about that when she ditched History of Magic.

She thought about visiting Alicia, but she didn't like hospitals.

She made out with a hot seventh year, forgot his name; did her Potions essay, didn't quite give a damn about the properties of vitalaric; yelled at Oliver when he tried to schedule an extra practice for that night, wanted to kick his ass when he continued bothering her; and contemplated blade therapy, but realized she was wearing white, so she settled for Roger Davies (the first hot guy that walked by her on her way back to the common room).

"Always thought you were hot." Davies muttered as he pushed her roughly onto his bed.

"Don't you all." Angelina rolled her eyes. He pulled off his shirt. She duly glanced at his abs, glazed over his biceps, quite unimpressed. She should have picked up Cedric instead.

She watched his eyes nearly pop out of his head at the model-worthy sight of her dark and perfect figure in red lace against white sheets. "Damn." He tried hard enough to be seductive and steamy but it was at best just a grayscale collection of moments.

He was out of breath and dizzy looking when she finally had enough and pulled her clothes back on.

She wished she could have said she felt hollow or empty, because that would have been better. She felt like her blood had drained out long ago and her veins were now running with mud and her body was standing up by the support of pebbled stones. Her chest might as well have been filled with dirt; it piled up to her throat and dissolved into a bitterly acidic taste in her mouth.

"What is it going to take?" She murmured.

She dug her fingernails into her arm and felt only the cold solidity of ice. When she swallowed all she could taste was that acrid bitterness coming back up. Her leaden feet walked her to her gray enclosure. She noticed now there was no door, even. Just four walls that all but materialized before her. Gray, stone walls.

Today they looked like mirrors.

She'd done it all before, watched herself with detached recognition.

She slammed her wrist against the wall, heard a crack, stared at the angles. Smashed her knee against stone, scraped skin, wanted to make sure it was bone breaking. Wasn't quite enough. Slit her fingernails along her wrist and watched the veins float to the surface, traced the tip along and watched her blood sketch ribbons across her skin. Drove that point in hard and stared as blood pooled at her feet, standing not in dirt or mud. Pulled it out to look at her reflection in the blade. Dirty, filthy, despicable.

She wished it had hurt more.

"What's it going to take?"

* * *

George leaned his chair back and rested his elbows on the desk behind him. He looked up at the ceiling, wondering if there was something—anything—he could do to brighten up the lecture.

The girl sitting in the desk behind him leaned forward, smiling in that self-complacent sort of way he hated. "Bored?" She said in a soft, low voice meant to be alluring.

George shrugged as if to say _of course_.

"Know what you mean." She said loftily. "It's hard to interest me." Her bright red lipstick was purposely distracting.

"I'm sure it is." He murmured.

She smirked slightly. "I think you could manage."

George laughed shortly. For someone who tried so hard to be complex she was quite transparent. "Wouldn't want to waste my time, Candace."

She looked slightly surprised he didn't call her Candy, the way she liked guys to. Never mind that her friends never called her that. Something about it sounding like a stripper name. "Don't think you could?" She teased, tilting her head so that upside down, he could see her smile from an attractive angle. Her bronze locks spilled down her shoulder.

He shrugged, not much persuaded by her honeyed tones. "Can't say I'd care to."

Candace smiled knowingly. It generally didn't take much when you looked like she did to make a guy care. "You'll come to it."

He raised his eyebrows in practiced surprise. "Sure about that?" Her self-assuredness was clearly sugar-spun, though he wasn't sure she knew that.

Candace glanced at the clock, averting her eyes in the perfect angle to show off her long eyelashes, liberally coated in mascara. "I've got the time."

"I haven't the inclination." The girl next to Candace suppressed a laugh. It wasn't everyday, or even heard of, that someone would so blatantly reject Candy Wilson. Candace glared at her. "Careful Candace, not your most attractive look."

"So I'm attractive." She smirked.

He gave her a bored look. "Do you need me to think so?"

"What?"

He fixed her with his amber eyes in such a way she stopped to study his eyes. "Would what I say change the way you look?"

Candace looked taken aback as she snapped herself out of her momentary reverie. "I suppose not." She said slowly.

He turned to look at McGonagall's demonstration of vanishing frogs—living creatures were supposedly hard to vanish.

"You know, George," Candace said softly but coyly.

He leaned his chair back and looked at her.

"You can call me Candy." She smiled as if this were quite a big honor to bestow.

"Do you want me to?"

She studied him with an appraising look, tilting her head just slightly so the light shimmered in her hair and off her red lipstick. His eyes were so beautiful, like liquid gold.

"No. _You _can all me Candace."

* * *

Outside the sky was clear and the sun was shining. Snow was falling lightly, one snowflake at a time. Angelina walked through the castle courtyard. There was the fountain where she used to make out with all her dates before seducing them. That was more fun, to at least pretend there was a relationship or an attraction. Now she just skipped straight to sleeping with them—as if that held any significance.

A class of first-years was having an Herbology lesson in the green houses. They didn't seem to like mandrakes very much. She smiled, remembering days before secret passages and the Marauder's Map when they used to sneak into the green house to plan their various schemes. Back when she was as much a troublemaker as Fred and George.

It was rumored that the castle garden grew shooting-star daisies. When she wanted to find them George had rolled his eyes and replied sarcastically that every month fairies came to visit too. It turned out shooting-star daisies did exist. She dragged George out into the garden past midnight one spring night and they found white daisies that seemed to glow in the night. When she picked them the petals plucked themselves off the flower and flew off into the sky like shooting stars.

Angelina grimaced as she felt a different kind of pain. She pressed the heel of her palm against her chest, half of her longed for someone to tear her heart out of her chest and the other half just wanted it to hurt more so she could remember it was there.

She yanked back her sleeve and examined her wrist.

_Her arm looked mangled. Deep cuts criss-crossed her wrist, uneven gashes, not even straight lines. She turned the faucet on and stuck her arm under the stream of water, hissing in pain as the cuts started to sting. The water ran red into the white porcelain sink._

There were no scars, no trace of shame. Convenient.

"_Why would you do this to yourself, Princess?" _

_She backed against the wall and finally, with nowhere to turn, faced him. "I didn't do anything wrong." She said in a brittle voice._

"_So why did you hurt yourself?" _

"_I didn't do anything wrong." _

"_I don't understand." He searched her face and she could see in his eyes that he was trying so hard to understand, to imagine what happened so he could know why she would do this. But he could never fathom what had happened to her and she didn't ever want him to know. Finally he looked away and said in a small voice, "Did it hurt?" _

Not nearly enough to be real pain.

She smoothed her sleeve back over her arm and turned around when she heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Lee gave her a small smile and stood beside her. "Thought I'd get some fresh air." He murmured.

"Same."

"You feel okay?"

"Fine."

"You sure?"

"Lee, shouldn't you know better than to ask?" She said warily. She was never going to say anything more indicative than _fine_ and quite honestly no one ever cared for details.

He shrugged. "You don't always have to be so strong."

She rolled her eyes. "I'd rather not rely on the strength of others. There's variable reliability in that."

"That's true for everyone."

"But I can blame myself. You can't effectively blame others."

Lee looked at her curiously. "Is that what all this has been about?"

"_All this_ meaning…?"

"You changing."

She laughed. "You'll have to be more specific."

"You know what I mean."

She shrugged. "Take it for what you will."

"Ange, I just want to understand." He put his hand on her shoulder.

"I know." She turned to face him. "And I love you for trying, but I can't let you. You don't want to know the truth."

"What makes you think that?"

Angelina stared at the snowflakes falling onto the ground.

Lee studied her. "You don't really like any of this do you?"

She sighed, willing to make the pathetic excuse of not answering vague questions.

"What you are now?"

She turned back to the castle, brushing his hand away. "No. I don't. But it's my choice."

* * *

Katie pulled Oliver's playbook from his hands. "You've been sketching plays for an hour."

"And I think I'm onto something." He reached for the composition book.

"And I think you're obsessed." Katie held it behind her back. "Our next match isn't for a month. Take a break."

Oliver gave her a playful smile. "Am I going to have to take it from you?"

Katie stepped back from his desk with a smile. "Nope. Because I'm not giving it to you until tomorrow."

"Come on, Katie." Oliver spun his chair around.

"Come on, Oliver." Katie smiled teasingly. "You know that you need a break. I mean you spent the last few hours working out and sketching plays. It's too much."

"I'm the _captain _of _Quidditch. _I need to be on top of things." Oliver said, slightly annoyed.

Katie leaned against the wall, the playbook still behind her back. "How are you feeling, Oliver?" She said somewhat accusingly.

"What?"

"How are you feeling?" There was an edge to her voice.

"Fine."

"Just fine?"

Oliver gave her a questioning look. "Is that not okay?"

"You're just _fine_?"

Oliver threw his arms up. "I'm great, okay? I feel great."

"Because you just ran a marathon around the Quidditch pitch and had a play-sketching frenzy."

Oliver clenched his jaw, seeing where this was going. "I'm fine."

"Because you had bane." It was more of a statement than a question.

Oliver was silent for a moment, seeing where this was going. "I'm trying, Katie." His voice was empty.

"Because you wanted to be better at Quidditch."

Oliver exhaled tiredly and ran his fingers through his hair. "Katie,"

"And bane makes you do and feel things that you normally don't."

"Yes, but I'm trying. I am."

Katie folded her arms across her chest, pinning the playbook to the wall with her back. "Are you?" She said softly.

Oliver slowly looked up at her with an expression of mixed hurt and anger. "Of course I am." He felt betrayed. "How can you say that I'm not?" He fixed her with such an intense expression that Katie shivered, but she stood her ground.

"Because you love Quidditch so much." Her voice shook slightly. Her eyes widened as he stood up slowly. A chill ran down her spine at the cold anger burning in his eyes.

"Just give me the playbook." He said in a low voice.

Katie shook her head adamantly. "The more you care about Quidditch the less you'll fight it."

"Katie, give it to me." His voice had an edge to it.

"You need to stop."

"I'm fine."

"You're not fine, you're addicted to bane and you're getting it from people like Blaine."

"That's not your concern." His voice was hollow and his eyes were set in stone.

"People like Blaine are dangerous, why do you _think_ they have bane?"

"Katie," His voice was slow but threatening. He started advancing across the room. His strength radiated across the room. "Give it to me."

She felt the wall pushing against her shoulder blades. She backed into the wall harder as he came closer. "No, Oliver, I won't."

"Damnit Katie!" He was right in front of her. They were face to face.

"Oliver, this is for you, I can't let you—"

"GIVE IT TO ME DAMNIT!"

She screamed as he struck her, his strength overwhelming as she crumpled against the bookcase and the playbook landed on the floor beside her.

* * *

Angelina took a shortcut to Charms, through the abandoned fourth floor corridor. There were only so many classes you dared miss before facing the wrath of Professor McGonagall, and Angelina wasn't looking for _that _kind of trouble.

"In a hurry, aren't you, babe?"

Angelina pulled out her wand and whirled around.

"Not quite." He whispered. She felt his breath on her neck; he was standing right behind her, close enough that their bodies touched and she knew that he would sense her movements.

Angelina turned her head back so she could face him. Their lips almost touched. "I have to give you credit, Blaine Bear. I didn't think you'd be back so soon."

Blaine chuckled. "I can't stay away, babe."

Angelina smiled seductively. "No, you can't."

Blaine smiled coldly and tilted her chin so she was looking right into his eyes. "Something about you." In one deft movement he had her buttoned coat on the floor.

Angelina slipped her hand around his neck and kissed him. Sometimes that's all it took. He leaned his body into hers and tugged at her shirt. She pointed her wand at him.

"Nice try, babe." He grinned and twisted her wrist in one quick movement. A loud crack echoed in the corridor as her wand clattered to the floor. He twisted her around and shoved her against the wall. Digging his elbow into her back, he slowly pushed her body against the stone corridor, snapping her ribs one at a time. "But you're easier than Ally was."

"How _dare _you bring Alicia into this." Angelina hissed at him.

Blaine shugged and twisted her arms behind him until they popped out of their sockets. "Just like this."

"You know there's only so many things that we can do to each other." Angelina said through clenched teeth.

"And I haven't run out yet." He grabbed her wrist roughly and jabbed a large syringe full of green liquid into her vein so that the needle was almost parallel to her vein and the more she struggled, the more she ripped open her own veins. She could feel her blood vessels burning as the acidic feeling of vitalaric singed its way through her body. At this volume it was lethal; vitalaric kept you awake by draining your strength. When all of the liquid had been drained, he roughly tore the needle from her wrist, ripping open her vein along her wrist and watching the blood drip down onto the floor. "I want you to enjoy every moment of this." He smiled sickly. "Feel it?" Blaine turned her over roughly so she was facing him.

She was all angles. Her shoulders popped out, ribs poking at her skin, spine arched. "You don't really excite feelings other than disgust."

He grinned. "Well I better change that, huh?" He picked up her wand.

"You can try." He would anyways.

He tossed her wand in the air and caught it in his hand. "I'll take that as a challenge," He stepped in until their bodies touched. When she breathed she could feel her broken rib cage collapsing in as it hit the resistance of his body. He grinned and leaned forward so that he was crushing her body beneath hers. When she tried to breath she could feel fragmented bone tearing through flesh. She had just about reached her threshold of bearable pain.

"Take it for what you will." Angelina rasped, unable to breathe. Blaine pressed his cold fingers against her throat and traced down to her fine collarbones. He hooked two fingers under her collarbone and snapped it with a hard tug. She didn't have the breath to react.

His breath was hot on her neck. "Alright." He stepped back and examined her. His eyes seemed to pierce with their stare. It amazed him she was still standing, though her body was lilting to one side and leaning heavily into the wall of the corridor. Her eyes burned with hatred, giving her pretty features a fierce coldness. "Shame to break something so _beautiful_." His voice was cold and smooth, like stone. "But you know Ally will do. And there's the other one… what's her name?" He tossed her wand in the air again and snapped his fingers before he caught it in his hand again. "Kathryn. That's right."

"Don't touch her." Angelina said venomously.

Blaine smiled. "For now, babe, you're all I want." He flicked her wand and a large stone from the opposite wall flung itself towards her.

Her Chaser reflexes kicked in and she threw her body to the side, narrowly missing it, but finally cried out as the motions jerked her broken body. "Well aren't I lucky?" She said through clenched teeth.

Blaine winked as he flicked his wand again.

Angelina twisted her body to avoid getting hit in the shoulder and doubled over, clutching her side.

Blaine grinned. "What's the matter babe, is it starting to hurt?"

Angelina managed a bitter smile. "You don't know how to really hurt someone, do you?" She flinched as he sent the next stone flying, but it missed her by several inches. She didn't think she would have been able to dodge it anyways, the pain was starting to be paralyzing.

"I don't know babe, you tell me." Blaine flicked her wand.

She flung her body to the side to avoid being hit, and this crumpled against the wall.

"So tell me, how do I _really_ hurt someone?" He said mockingly. With another flourish of the wand a stone flung itself right at her and this time hit its target with a sickening crash and scream. Blaine shook his head, disappointed. "You're losing it, babe. Even Ally lasted longer."

"Stop calling her Ally." Angelina tried to push the stone off of her but even if she'd moved past the pain her shoulder was crumpled at an angle.

"How _is _Ally? I haven't seen her around lately." Blaine smiled as another stone landed on her shoulder, eliciting another cry.

"She's _fine_ actually."

"Nice to hear." He casually flicked his wand a few more times and the stones landed in rapid succession. Blaine walked up to her and scrutinized her mangled figure. Everything except her face was broken. She didn't say anything but her expression was contorted with pain and in her mind she was screaming at herself not to cry. The silence was frightening. "What's the matter, babe?" He grinned maliciously. "I didn't hurt you now, did I?"

"But you'll keep trying, won't you?" She managed to say, bitterness lacing every word.

He chuckled and bent down. She bit him when he tried to touch her face. "I guess I'll have to try harder." He tapped her wand against the stone floor. "We've got _all _this time…" She recoiled at the thought of all the vitalaric burning through her veins. She'd be awake for weeks, even if he stopped. "So while I think about this, why don't you just stand back?" With a flourish of her wand Angelina was magically pinned to the wall. Another swish and flick and the stones on the floor rose and hurled themselves at her. "_Affinitio._" He said lazily, smiling complacently as the stones continued to pick themselves off the floor and fly towards her.

"Fuck you." She managed to say in between screams.

"Some other time, babe." Blaine leaned back and watched her. "Let me know when it starts to hurt."

* * *

Oliver dropped to his knees. "Katie, I'm sorry. I don't—I can't—I'm sorry," He reached out to help her but she flinched, and cried out as the movement jerked her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" Katie snapped.

"I—I don't… I didn't mean to—I don't know how it happened." Oliver's eyes were darting back and forth at a dizzying pace. "It must have been the bane. I would never hurt you Katie. I was angry but I… I wouldn't do that, Katie, please, I'm sorry."

Katie clutched her shoulder and winced as she tried to sit up.

"Let me take you to the hospital wing." Oliver looked completely torn apart by sudden guilt.

"I'll take myself." She tried to stand up. Pain seared through her shoulder.

"Katie I'm so sorry." Oliver's eyes were turning red. He was starting to seem normal again.

"Leave me alone." There were tears in her eyes as she finally pulled herself up. "I don't want to hear it."

"I don't know what came over me. It's just… I lost control. Sometimes it happens…from bane and I know that's not an excuse I just… I'm so sorry." Besides the redundancy of his apology, he did look genuinely apologetic.

At the moment, the pain in her shoulder was holding her paralyzed, so she indulged him in a moment of considering his apology. She did remember reading something about bane causing rage and impulsiveness.

The door to the dorm flew open.

"What's going on?" Damon asked as Percy looked around the room, taking in the scene.

"Katie Bell, what are you doing in the boys' dormitory?" Percy demanded. He frowned when he noticed the pain in her face. "You're hurt." He crossed the room to her and examined her shoulder. "What happened?"

Katie glanced over at Oliver and wiped her sleeve across her eyes. "I tripped and fell against the book case."

* * *

_**Like it? Hate it? I admit this is not that great of a chapter and you sort of hate everyone. **_


	11. Fading

_**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I promise this will be the last chapter containing Blaine for a long time.**_

* * *

Katie sank down into one of the too-soft beds of the hospital wing. "Thanks for walking me over." She mumbled to Percy.

"Katie, what happened?" Fred was sitting on Alicia's bed. Katie ignored him for the moment.

"It's not a problem." Percy said awkwardly. He knew Katie well enough, as she was a close friend of his brothers, but he wasn't the best at cheering people up. "I'll get Madam Pomfrey." He disappeared, his footsteps briskly carrying him away.

"What happened, Katie?" Alicia asked, emerging from behind the curtain where had just changed back into her regular clothes—Madam Pomfrey discharged her a few minutes before Katie arrived.

Katie sighed and leaned against one of the pillows, wincing slightly. "I don't want to talk about it right now."

"What happened to your shoulder?" Fred insisted, sitting beside her. Alicia crossed over the room to her.

Katie stared past them at the only other girl in the hospital wing, Isabelle Snow, a girl no one really talked to, who looked deathly ill. "Poor Isabelle, she's always sick."

"Did someone hurt you?" Fred continued.

"Fred, I'm tired, just—"

"Did _Oliver _hurt you?" Fred cut her off.

Katie buried her face in the pillow. Fred tried to put his arm around her and she cried out in pain—not because he'd actually hurt her, just to make him stop. "Fred!" Alicia pulled his arm back.

"Come on Katie, what's going on?" Fred fought to keep his voice even, as he became more certain by the second that Oliver had hurt Katie.

Alicia looked sympathetically at Katie, who looked emotionally exhausted. "Fred, she said she was tired, don't—"

"What did Oliver do to you?"

"He didn't—"

"Then what—"

"It wasn't—"

"You're hurt!"

"He didn't do it on purpose!" Her voice cracked in the middle of the last word and she didn't really care.

Alicia let out an audible gasp. Katie looked past the grim look on Fred's face. "But he hurt you." He said darkly.

"Fred, please just leave me alone." She looked like she might cry.

"_He hurt you!_ Do you _let _him do this to you?"

"It wasn't his fault!"

"Katie!" Fred snapped impatiently.

Madam Pomfrey came in, frowning at Fred, "Mr. Weasley, I will not have you yelling at my patients."

"Katie, _what happened_?"

"Mr. Weasley, I'll have to ask you to leave."

"Why can't you see the truth?"

Alicia gently pulled Fred away. "Fred, walk me back?"

He gave Katie a look that suggested the conversation wasn't over, and slipped his arm around Alicia. "Yeah, sure."

* * *

Angelina tried to think of something happy to distract her from what was happening.

_She leaned her head on his shoulder and smiled up at him. He was staring up at the sky. The stars had twinkled into sight one by one, slowly forming constellations from hazy collections of pinprick sparkles. The fireflies cast a soft golden glow upon them and he watched them fly with a quiet childlike fascination. She watched the way his eyes changed color._

Smash.  
Scream.

_Then, he had a spray of freckles across his nose that made him seem appear especially childish. His hair was strawberry blond, more blond now in the golden light of the fireflies. He always hoped the red would fade out so he would look different from the rest of his family. His eyes were sometimes gold, sometimes amber, and she liked watching the light dance in them._

Crash.  
Cry.

_He leaned his head against the tree and she could see the reflection of the forest and the sky in his eyes. She placed her head on his chest, feeling his heart beat in alternation with hers and closed her eyes for a moment to memorize this moment. He asked her if she was tired. She wanted to say no, but instead she said, "Why don't you believe in love?" _

Angelina braced herself for the rhythmic crashing of the stones against her body, but for a moment nothing came. In its place she felt the chilling fear of the expectedly unexpected. Her sharp intake of breath caused pain to lacerate through her body without giving her any air. She couldn't feel anything except the pain and that was _almost _something she could live with if not for his presence—somewhere, uncertain _where_ beside her.

_His eyes changed color once more from amber back to gold as he smiled. "I believe in love. Just not your fairytales. Don't you think you'd like to do better than eating a poisonous apple and dying until some nameless prince you've never met decides you have an attractive corpse?" She rolled her eyes instead of answering. _

The sudden cold twisting in her stomach caused her to dig her fingernails into the stone floor as he was suddenly beside her. She felt his hands on her. "I won't say it." Her voice sounded raw even to herself. As his rough hands jolted her broken body she let out a strangled cry, muted by her lack of strength to react in time.

_Sensing her annoyance, he grinned and put his arm around her. "_I_ don't think you're the type of person to live trapped in a tower trying to spin straw into gold. I mean, don't you think that would be boring, waiting around all your life for some miracle to happen?" She leaned against his shoulder again and smiled wryly. _

"Really, babe?"

There was a flash of pale blue on silver. Something cold pressed against her stomach and she breathed in sharply, wishing she didn't know what that ice-cold liquid burning like acid against her skin was.

_She gave him a sassy look that she knew annoyed him as he made a face at her. "First of all, it was the miller's daughter in Rumpelstilskin that tried to spin straw into gold, not Rapunzel. And does that mean you don't believe in miracles?" _

He leaned down so she could see the glare in his eyes. Just as her they started to roll into the back of her head the glint of the dripping blade caught her eyes. Her body instantly paralyzed as the point of the blade lightly touched her neck, just enough not to penetrate, but enough for her to feel the point driving into her veins as the caustic liquid dripped down the blade onto her neck. Deftly, he traced the tip of the blade down her neck, across her collarbone, letting the blue crystalline droplets follow the trail of scarlet.

_It was his turn to roll his eyes. "Of course I do! How else would we have gotten away with turning Errol blue and blaming it on the ghoul? I swear Mum was going to kill us." _

Her body began to convulse. She felt as if acid was melting her from the inside out, burning and blistering, cutting into her every muscle and nerve. At the places where the metal tip had barely touched, her skin was starting to peel and dissolve. Her blood dripped slowly, red-black onto the stone floor as corrosive burned through blood.

_She laughed and he smiled again. They climbed the tree to get closer to the stars. They were still small enough to make it to the top of the tree without making the branches break. She noticed a heart shaped cluster of stars. "Do you see that?" _

He set the knife point at her left side, poised at the flesh between her top two ribs. "If you don't want me to do it, all you have to do is ask." He said in a low voice.

She couldn't remember how to speak. Her vision was exploding into bright lights and she had completely lost all sense of anything but the pain.

Blaine sank the entire blade into her side. "Well I guess I'll just have to wait then." He chuckled, turning the knife. "I'm sure you'll have a better answer in a few days." He dropped her on the floor.

_She blinked and it disappeared._

* * *

Candace stared outside the window of Derek's dorm at the sliver of moon hanging in the dark gray sky. Tomorrow it was probably going to rain, as it had every day that week—an upbeat start to spring.

"Ouch, Derek," She put her hand on his chest to push him away and unsnare her lip from his teeth. "What are you doing?"

Derek scoffed. "What are _you _doing?" _Staring out the window while I'm kissing you._

"Sorry." Candace stared at a fray in his jeans.

"_Right_, Candy." Derek got off his bed and grabbed his jeans off the floor.

She sighed heavily, "Derek, I _am _sorry."

Derek gave her a patronizing half smile as he started threading his belt through his jeans. "What's gotten into you lately?" He asked, with an air of not caring for her answer.

Candace gave him a look pleading him not to take them down this route. "Nothing, I just—"

"Come on Candy," He smirked at her as he grabbed his shirt and yanked it on. "What is it? Too much? Not feeling it?"

Candace wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "No, Derek, it's not that, I'm just—"

Derek pushed her arms away with one sweep of his hand. "Quit making excuses Candy."

"I love you, Derek." Candace said softly, reaching for her shirt.

Derek leaned against the wall and appraised her with his sharp gray eyes for a moment and then smirked. "That's funny Candy."

"Is it?" She turned her shirt right side out.

"Because it's, what, three weeks into March, already? Damn, clock's ticking down." He said dryly.

Candace looked up into his cold eyes. "Derek, that's not how it is. I—"

Derek threw her cardigan at her. "I'm sure all the candidates for April are lined up." He picked up her purse and tossed it across the room where its contents spilled into her lap. "Picked one yet?"

Candace shoved everything back in her purse and zipped it shut. "No, I don't care for any of them. I care about you."

"I'm sure you said that to your February boyfriend too." Derek pulled over his Prefect sweater.

Candace fingered the lace fringe of the shirt in her hands. "If that's what you think of me why did you agree to tonight?"

Derek laughed and yanked the door open. "Takes one to know one, Candy. I just didn't think you'd lie about it. Don't expect you to understand, though." He smirked and indicated the open hallway.

Candace fumbled as she pulled on her shirt and jeans. "It's not a lie." She murmured, walking out his door. "Don't expect you to understand, though."

* * *

Fred pulled out the chair next to Percy and brushed aside all his various scrolls and books. "I need to talk to you." He said briskly.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Well interrupting my studying and knocking _ink _onto my homework isn't helping your case." He pulled out his wand to fix the mess on the table.

"I don't _like _the library," Fred gestured grandly and somewhat wildly at the place he never wanted to spend more than forty seconds in, "But I need to talk to you."

Percy gave him a dubious glance, taking in his subtly off-balance behavior. "You had coffee didn't you? You _know _that caffeine isn't good for you."

Fred exhaled impatiently. "Percy, this is important."

"I very much doubt that." Percy re-opened _A Detailed History of the Third Dwarf Civil War. _"But I suppose you're not going to let me return to my studying so _what is it Fred?_"

"Do you know what happened to Katie?"

Percy looked at Fred with an odd expression. "No. I don't nose into other people's business." He said self-righteously.

"You're an awful liar." Fred snapped. "It's in your face."

"I don't _know _what happened." Percy scowled. "Now if you'll excuse me—"

"Fine." Fred cut him off fiercely. "What do you _think _happened, then?"

Percy gave him a piercing look and said in his pompous Head Boy manner, "Fred, you know very well I try not to make assuming judgments when it is not my place, and considering your penchant for attracting trouble, I suggest you do the same." He flipped his page with a flourishing finality and began to take notes.

"Percy!" Fred grabbed his book.

"_Frederick_!" Percy shoved him away with a surprising amount of force. "Let me be clear. I don't know what happened to Katie, and don't think it's the same thing as I don't _care_, because I don't like to see innocent people hurt any more than you do, but you need to _calm down. _If you don't want her to get hurt then stop nosing around and angering people."

"So—"

"Go do your homework."

"What did—"

"I will take points from Gryffindor if you don't leave me to study in peace."

"What do you—"

"_Do you want me to drag you out myself?"_

* * *

Candace slammed the eagle knocker once, and then leaned against the wall behind her. She completely missed the riddle and groaned, running her fingers through her bronze curls as she slid down the wall onto the floor. "Shit."

_I'm sorry, that is incorrect._

"Great." She folded her arms against her chest. She sighed and took three breaths. "Okay, sorry. Can you repeat that?"

_If you break me I do not stop working, if you touch me I may be snared, if you lose me nothing will matter._

"I don't know." Candace picked herself up and headed down the hall. "I don't know." She turned at the first empty corridor. "Shouldn't've been a Ravenclaw."

She kept walking without any real sense of direction or purpose except to get away, her steps quickening and lengthening, echoing and stretching shadows across the corridors empty corridors. After some time it became quite calming, the constant rhythm of her footsteps combined with her leveled breaths, the blur of the torches as they came into sight every few feet along the corridor, the swift movement of her shadow. Something persistent, something eternal.

The corridor finally joined the long hallway leading to the South Wing, across the castle from the Ravenclaw tower. Not quite fond of the dark and unlit paths of the South Wing, she turned to find a safer corner of the castle.

"I didn't think you were a sleep walker."

Candace turned and found herself somewhat comforted by his presence. "I didn't think you were an insomniac."

He grinned. "Didn't you know 2 a.m. is the best time for pranks?"

"What'd you do this time?" The torchlight against his red hair cast him in a fiery halo. She smirked at the thought of George Weasley being anything close to angelic.

George shrugged and turned to head back through the corridor. "That's for me to know and you to find out in Potions tomorrow morning."

Candace inwardly groaned at the thought of tomorrow being Monday which started with double Potions. "Tempting, but I'll pass." She said sarcastically, her footsteps falling in sync with his.

"Sleepwalking and skiving class." He mused, with a smirk.

"Trouble and a tease." Her eyes sparkled with amusement.

"You have no idea." He said with a grin.

"Only a clue." She smiled complacently.

"That'll be enough for you?" His expression was equally self-assured as he continued down the hall towards the Gryffindor tower.

Candace smiled as she stopped at the intersection of the corridor and hallway. "A bit excessive, in fact."

George winked at her. "Then we understand each other."

Candace continued down the opposite direction back down the hall, past the torches as her shadows flitted between flickering lights and her footsteps called out into the silence. She picked up her purse and her cardigan from the floor in front of the Ravenclaw tower entrance and slipped on her cardigan. "Repeat that again," she asked the eagle knocker.

_If you break me I do not stop working, if you touch me I may be snared, if you lose me nothing will matter._

The corners of her lips turned up in smile. "My heart."

* * *

Oliver scrutinized his Quidditch team. His Seeker was enthusiastic as ever, both Beaters looking identically bored, and his two Chasers very clearly occupied with other matters. And the voice constantly demeaning his captaining missing. "Where's Johnson?"

Katie shrugged noncommittally, as the only response from his entire team.

Oliver sighed heavily. "We can't have practice without the whole team. You're dismissed."

Katie immediately hurried off the field with Alicia.

Oliver called after her, "Katie, can we talk?"

"I'd rather not." She said, without turning around.

"Please, Katie." She gave him no answer as she disappeared into the girls' locker room.

"Leave her alone." Fred snapped, brushing past him roughly.

"I believe I asked _Katie._"

Fred glared at him. "And I believe she said _no._"

"She doesn't need you to reiterate her answers." He added an edge to his voice that Fred ignored, as he stepped up to Oliver—disregarding their difference in size.

"But you clearly need me to help you understand: Katie does not want to talk to you so _get the hell away from her._" Fred's eyes stared into Oliver's.

Oliver shoved him. "I'm warning you, stay out of this."

"Or what?" Fred challenged, shoving Oliver back. "Don't think I'm as easy to hurt as Katie."

"That's enough." George said decidedly, pushing the two away from each other. He'd let his brother have his say, but physical blows were never worth it. "Don't make her hate you both for killing each other."

"This isn't the time for nursery rhyme peace time." Oliver snapped.

"This isn't the time for a Monday night fight either, so back off." George said evenly, sticking his elbow into his brother's rib cage when he continued to simmer as Oliver turned to walk away.

Fred shoved him in response.

Katie closed the door to the girls' locker room with a sigh.

* * *

Oliver dropped his things on the floor and walked over to the wall opposite his bed. He murmured the incantation and stared at all the vials he had concealed. It was almost time for another dose. He felt the cold glass in his fingers as it slipped through and dropped onto the floor with a light crash.

Unsure if he would later regret this more than taking it, he watched the wall slide over the concealment.

As calmly as he could, he walked down to the library and opened his History of Magic textbook, as if by the power of pure inclination he could just study tonight instead of struggle.

_Angelus iracundiam, or Angel's Wrath, was first documented in the eighth century. A slow developing disease of unknown cause with no telltale symptoms, little was known of its pathology. Because no cure could be found, the early societies believed it to be a punishment from heaven; thus it was named Angel's Wrath. An uncommon—though not rare—disease, Angel's Wrath has been the downfall of many great historical figures…_

After some time the words began to blur and his head started to throb. He was shaking so hard his letters became muscle was starting to ache but he ignored it. He shoved his paper and quill aside and just stared at the book, forcing himself to make out each line.

…_but perhaps the most famous case is in the fall of the Lydian Empire in the seventeenth century. In 1643 Arrelia the Admirable, ruler of the Lydian Empire, was first stricken with the Angel's Wrath. The Lydian Empire was then at the height of its power and size, expanding across nearly the whole of Europe. However, as Arrelia grew weaker, the states of the Lydian Empire began to dissent. After her death in 1652, her son Adonis the Abominable came to rule…_

His heart was burning inside his chest, molten lead running through his veins, dripping into nerve and muscle. A splitting pain in his head caused his vision to blur into near darkness. Ice was filling inside his throat and choking his breath. His body resisted his attempts to breathe; the pain was not worth the air he needed. Maybe if he just stopped trying to breathe for one moment it would go away…

* * *

Her eyes were closed, but it made no difference really, because she was still awake and without the energy to summon anymore memories. They weren't any that were happy without being bittersweet anyways.

She dimly noted footsteps re-entering the corridor, but didn't bother opening her eyes. The sight of blood stained brick wall had no particular aesthetic appeal. The footsteps were not as heavy as usual, but she didn't manage to summon any energy to care—she had none to even stay awake, it was all in the vitalaric. As they came closer she considered her options—he had been quite clever in crafting her circumstances—finally submit to the pain and ask for him to stop, remove the blade herself and in bleeding herself dry, effectively plead for an end, or simply wait for the corrosive to continue its destructive path one blood cell at a time until she died and wished she had at least the strength to say something witty to compensate for such a pathetic death.

"I won't say it." She managed to whisper as the footsteps stopped, presumably beside her body.

"Then don't say anything." _His voice._

Her eyelids were heavy, but she slowly forced them open and stared. It took several moments for her choked brain to finally process the image of the face she was staring emptily at. Even then, in her state she could not manage to place an identity on its features except to feel vaguely relieved that they didn't seem to belong to Blaine. Perhaps because she didn't want to believe he was doing this for her.

He picked her up and she did her best not to scream in pain. She needn't have bothered really because her body barely had any strength left except to register the pain.

"Don't take me to the hospital wing." She managed to say. "Don't take me…" Her voice trailed off. "No…" Her mind struggled to form this single syllable before it collapsed back into dark thoughtlessness. But somehow, out of that darkness she finally managed to remember. "Don't do this again."

The light made her feel no less cold. It illuminated his features as her unseeing eyes stared into his face, unable to comprehend the images flashing by.

* * *

Oliver opened his eyes and immediately recoiled at the bright lights, which only made his body cry out in pain. He realized after a long moment he was in the hospital wing.

"You passed out in the library."

He forced himself to meet her gaze, but she didn't meet his as she stared at the tiles on the floor in front of her. "Katie."

She didn't indicate having heard him at all. He tried to sit up, but the pain was still very much there—worse now— and he couldn't fight it. "They ran some tests." She said.

_Fuck._

"It didn't show up. I guess you haven't had any in the last thirty six hours." She paused for a moment. "Is that why you passed out? Because you tried to fight it?"

_Still fighting it._

She pulled her knees up to her chest. "I don't know what to say. I don't know what to think. What if Madam Pince hadn't found you? The library is huge and no one ever goes to that far corner. How long does it take before you die?" She buried her face in her arm. "I wish I could hate you."

His heart felt heavy. "I'm sorry Katie. For everything." It was a pathetic apology and he knew it.

"And you did it all for Quidditch." She said bitterly, without looking at him. "This was all for _Quidditch._ For a fucking game." She laughed cynically. He could hear the sob she was holding back.

"I wanted to stop so I wouldn't hurt you." He wanted to continue but he felt faint from the pain—and _that _was only getting worse by the second. "I'm sorry."

She leaned her head against the back of her chair and stared out the window. For several minutes she stayed there unmoving and unspeaking. When she finally looked at him— his pain-stricken face, his feverishly shaking body—she couldn't help but wonder if she had done this to him, if not taking bane was possibly worse than surrendering to it.

* * *

She'd been here exactly once before.

_The walls were glaringly white and closing in from all four corners. She sat on the edge of the hospital wing bed, trying hard not to hear what he was saying. She felt exposed from the examination, and even more so now as the bright lights shone down on her and she shivered in her hospital gown. She was bandaged so tightly she felt she would never breathe or bleed freely. She was holding onto the edge of the bed to try and keep balance, for everything inside the room seemed to be tilting every which way. _

"Angelina?" Alicia looked appropriately frightened at the sight of her mangled body. "What happened Angelina? What did he do to you?"

She said nothing, but continued to lie there in a conscious coma with her arms magically paralyzed because she was on suicide watch.

"It was Blaine, wasn't it? How could he do this to you?" Alicia was earnestly concerned, which did not escape Angelina, but she didn't reply. "Angelina, you can talk to me. I know I wasn't here for you last time but I promise I'll understand. I've seen what Blaine is willing to do to hurt someone."

It didn't mean that Alicia would ever understand.

_She wouldn't let herself look at him and she tried not to listen to him either, but that was harder to do. She was sure he knew that she wouldn't listen, but he said what he needed to say anyways. She caught every word, but the only ones she really cared about were the last because he never finished that sentence. The unexpected silence drew the air from the room. She could feel her own throat constrict, choking on unspoken words, and knew he must feel exactly the same. _

"Oh Angelina… how did this… she's not… what happened?" Katie's eyes were wide. "I hope she's going to be okay. What did he do to her?"

"I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will fix her." Alicia said uncertainly. It was clear by her tone that she was going to continue speaking as if Angelina were unconscious. If only.

_He moved to put his arm around her, maybe to squeeze her shoulder, maybe to give her a hug—she would never know, because he stopped himself, sure she would just flinch and recoil. She did. A moment of cold-blooded strength in which she finally killed the girl she used to be, she said slowly and deliberately, "I will never forgive you." _

"Why is she on suicide watch?" Lee frowned. "That doesn't make sense."

"Sure it does." Fred said. "She's been in here once for it, and it looks like she tried to stab herself. The knife's probably close to an artery. Besides, Hogwarts doesn't like to think they have a sadist to deal with."

"That's not fair." Alicia crossed her arms, remembering that no one had been held responsible for her attack because it wasn't possible to prove. "Is she going to be okay?" She asked, as Madam Pomfrey came by.

Madam Pomfrey gave Angelina a disdained look. "Well she's alive." She said stiffly, before disappearing into her office, presumably to find a miracle potion. She returned with a small glass and set it down on the table so she could properly shoo them away.

* * *

Oliver wished he would just pass out again. The pain was consuming him by the moment and he would have given anything for it to end for just one second.

Madam Pomfrey brought him a glass of light green potion—the sixth cure she'd tried for him. "What did you do to yourself Oliver Wood?" She muttered, as she checked his temperature again and frowned. At forty-four point two degrees most people were dead. She watched him finish off the glass and then disappeared into her office again.

The door to the hospital wing opened and Katie rushed over to his side, knocking over a chair in her haste. She grabbed a handful of vials from her purse. "She'll think it was the potions that made you better." Katie stopped to breathe and looked at him. She touched his face, her fingertips cold on his burning skin, but her touch gentle. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You've suffered so much." She kissed him and then left again.

* * *

The sky had finally shifted from black to gray. Angelina had stared out the window at the sky for the past few hours as she waited for the vitalaric to wear off. She could still feel it burning through her veins, but it was less stinging now, more of a flame in a fireplace than a fire burning down a house. Soon enough it would flicker and die out. She almost didn't have the strength to wait, as the pain steadily grew worse—and she didn't think it could.

"I take it this isn't the worst part."

It hurt to move—she wasn't sure she could force her body to—but she turned to face him. "No." It hurt to talk too, but he didn't need to know that.

George noted the glass on the table beside her with an amused expression. "She still hates you?"

"Clearly."

He flicked on the lamp and she closed her eyes as the light triggered a splitting pain in her head. "You should probably take it anyways." He handed her the glass and took the seat beside the table, absently flicking off the lamp.

It looked like plain water, but was cloyingly sweet with a terribly bitter aftertaste that seemed a bit familiar, not that her brain could manage to process why. She coughed, causing a searing pain in her ribs as she moved. Madam Pomfrey hadn't quite finished—or gotten around to—healing her.

George looked at her with the same question in his eyes they'd all asked before, except he was asking something different.

"He wouldn't stop unless I asked him to." She stared up at the ceiling. She was freezing and hurting and tired. Vitalaric sapped your strength to keep you awake, and she was certain she'd been forced to take just enough to keep her from dying altogether. It was rather unfortunate that she didn't have a choice between pain and pride.

"He makes you feel weak."

She let the words hang in the air for as long as she could without resigning to the fact. At this point it was hard not to when she was on the verge of begging for death to stop the pain. "I wouldn't give in to him."

"That's why he did it."

She shivered and stared at the ceiling tiles as if it were enough of a distraction from the pain—it would have been enough to force her out of consciousness, had it not been for the vitalaric.

"It works, doesn't it?"

"No." She said fiercely, and immediately wished she hadn't, as she struggled to muffle a cry of pain. _Yes._ She fought not to cry out.

What little bleak light there was somehow reflected in his eyes. "Do you remember who you used to be?"

Angelina pursed her lips, mostly in an attempt to mask her expression of pain, and partly because she didn't like to remember. There was nothing worth remembering when she couldn't possibly be that person again. "Not because I liked her. Weak, ugly, pathetic and gullible."

He didn't bother to say what everyone else had already felt the need to. "That's not why you didn't like her."

"That's not what you asked." She said, particularly coldly as she felt herself weakening to the unrelenting pain. Now it was stabbing in her heart too as she realized what he was doing. She wanted to scream at him to stop—there was no pretending things could ever be the way they were, and even if they did it would have been a delicate façade—she wanted to scream because she couldn't handle this much pain—it was never both kinds at once.

He looked at her and for a moment she thought he might try and comfort her. She felt so much on the brink of crying and giving into the pain that she almost wanted him to, but he didn't. What he said only made it worse, "I don't need to."

"No you don't." She said harshly, gritting her teeth.

"I just don't understand why you hate yourself for it."

"_I don't!" _Her entire body screamed in pain and the memory of the night burned behind her eyes. In the following silence she imagined he was pinning her down for this moment of weakness and the thought of something sharp made her long for an end.

"I don't hate you."

She remembered the pain in his expression, his pain which was still tangible to her at the time, and which she hadn't really untangled from her own. It was like deadweight on someone drowning in acid. "You should." Her voice was thick. _I never said sorry._ She felt herself crumbling beneath the pain— the present and past, which felt as raw and real as it did years ago. As much as she knew it would do her nothing to reminisce, she suddenly blurted out, "Do you remember when we turned Errol blue and blamed it on the ghoul?"

He grinned at her. "It was your idea."

Angelina smiled. "Technically it was Charlie's fault for giving it to me."

"You would have done _anything_ Charlie asked you to." He added with a sly smile, "Still would, I bet."

"Would not! I haven't seen him in years."

"You were in love with him. You let him call you Angie."

She rolled her eyes. "It was a crush. A minor, _minor_ crush."

"I'm sure he'll be disappointed to hear that." He said sarcastically.

"Don't _tell _him!"

"He knew you fancied him—_fancied_, putting it lightly since you didn't exactly hide it."

"Well he might have… forgotten?"

He winked at her. "Sure."

"You're awful." She laughed, and tried to take in this moment for what it was. It felt so surreal that she wanted to reach out and touch him just to make sure that this wasn't a conversation she was having with figment of her imagination. She felt like she'd just taken her first breath since drowning. Everything was always built up to be complex, and in a few moments he'd managed to make it seem like it was all so simple.

She let herself think for a moment this could be real, that they weren't just teetering over the edge and pretending in the moment before the fall that the sky was in a different angle and they were still standing.

He stepped towards the window, staring out at the sky which was showing a hazy orange gold undertone beneath the gray, as if dawn was just barely hiding beneath the night. His eyes changed from gold to amber, and for a moment she saw something glimmer in his eyes that she couldn't quite identify. He leaned against the wall beside her bed and she reached out to touch his hand. Suddenly she wanted him to wrap his arms around her—she hadn't hugged him so long.

He looked back at her. "Feeling any better, Princess?"

She stared at him for a moment. "Yes." She said slowly. She hadn't noticed that the pain had abated considerably during their reminiscing. The burning of vitalaric was fading fast too.

He smiled, his eyes turning gold again. There was something so breathtaking about his eyes. She wanted to stare into them, melt in his golden gaze and be that girl he remembered best. But she felt suddenly tired, and her eyes started to close. She forced them open but he had looked away again.

She took his hand. "Do you still hate fairytales?" Her voice sounded far away and she fought to keep her eyes open.

"Yeah. Do you still believe in fairytales?" Something about his voice was reassuring.

"No." She said softly, as the pain finally faded so that she could curl up without feeling any pain. "I'm not so naïve."

He didn't look at her for a moment, staring out the window as the sky finally gave way to a brilliant orange yellow. The first feeble rays reflected in his eyes.

"George?" Her eyelids were so heavy and she was certain now that any moment she'd fall asleep at last, but she didn't want to, not while they could still pretend. Her hand slipped from his.

He looked right into her eyes, his eyes gold blazing with the light of dawn into hers, dark and glassy.

"Is this for real?" She asked in a small voice. Maybe this was a dream, but George never lied to her.

"Did you want it to be?" There was a flicker of sadness in his eyes.

"Do I get a choice?" She whispered, feeling tears brimming in her eyes as colors started to blur together. She grasped the air for his hand.

He gently squeezed her hand. His face was fading from her vision. "I'm sorry Princess." His other hand was clenched in a fist. He unfurled his fingers to reveal a small empty package of morphisine tablets.

She felt like all the air had just been forced from her lungs. She tried to swallow past the knot in her throat, but her eyes were burning, feeling heavy, and she felt herself drifting away. Suddenly she would rather be back inside that dark corridor drowned in corrosives than let this moment end.

He looked at her with his beautiful golden dawn eyes and said softly, "I miss you."

She wanted to say one last thing, anything, to tell him that she missed him, that he needed to remind her that this really happened, and that she didn't want to forget it, but she couldn't speak.

Her eyes closed before even the first tear fell.

* * *

_**So I promised myself that I wouldn't go all crazy on OCs in this story and not have any scenes with just OCs... but I kind of couldn't resist. More people means more drama and I am all about the melodramatic. So. Melodramatic.**_

**_Anyways, please review if you like it/love it/hate it! I may update faster if you do..._**


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